Saving the World of Light
by MaskedGamer
Summary: It all played out the same. Galeem attacked the Smashers. The Smashers futilely fought back. Except for one difference. Kirby, and all hope is gone. Now, Nathaniel, an amnesiac teenager, must now journey to fight Galeem. On his journey, he'll be joined by others and recover his memories. We are also taking bets on how long it takes for him to lose horribly. Review if you want.
1. Chapter 1: Everyone is (Not) HERE!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo, Super Smash Bros., and any games, characters or franchises that may or do appear throughout this story. I only own the Ocs that will be appearing as the story progresses.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Everyone is (not) HERE!**

"Don't let a single one get away!" Fox raised his blaster, pointing at a ball of light with six wings and the army of Master Hands. All the smashers were on the cliff, gazing at their enemy.

 _ **Something's wrong.**_

Marth quickly summarized the situation, "We'll each need to take down about 10."

"Stow your fear. It's now or never," Princess Zelda stepped forward as she spoke, preparing to fight.

"We'll win this. I know we will!" Pit said, his voice brimming with confidence.

 ** _This isn't right._**

Slowly, the "glove" on each of the Master Hands began to peel off, revealing a brilliant blue energy beneath. The energy began to be pulled towards the winged light, causing it to shine ever more brilliantly.

 ** _No, no no no no!_**

Shulk's eyes flashed blue, "A vision!"

He turned around, looking at a certain pink smasher. Before Shulk could let out a warning, his vision came to be.

 ** _Please stop! Just stop!_**

The light combined into a single point and formed a black void before erupting into countless streams of lights. All of them being directed at the smashers.

Link was one of the first. He managed to deflect several of the smaller beams with his sword and shield before being overwhelmed and swallowed, turning into dust.

Samus tried shooting at them but she met the same fate as Link.

Zelda and Mewtwo tried to deflect the light, casting a barrier and Confusion respectively, but it was no use.

Luigi cowered behind Peach as Mario stepped out in front of them, giving them some last moment of peace before being reduced to nothingness.

It was clear now that the Smashers stood no chance, so they took the logical option. They ran.

 ** _Why! Why is this happening!_**

Pikachu ran, trying to escape and Sonic slowed to match his speed, reaching out his hand to grab Pikachu. It was useless with Sonic being swallowed by the light after the mouse Pokemon.

Bayonetta was firing back and managed to dodge one beam by transforming into bats but she was still caught when reforming in the air.

"Guys! Triple Finish!" Pokemon trainer cried out, his eyes full of tears. Charizard, Ivysaur, and Squirtle let out their Final Smash and Bowser joined them, breathing fire. They all became dust as the light consumed them.

"Papa?" Bowser Jr. asked, watching his father's last moments. Tears began to well in his eyes. But before they could fall, Bowser Jr. suffered the same fate as his father.

Captain Falcon was caught as he tried entering the Blue Falcon.

Lucario and Greninja tried to dodge but both still got caught.

The Inklings tried hiding by painting the ground with ink but to no avail.

Falco was caught as he tried flying away in his Arwing.

Palutena tried to reflect a beam but was caught, causing Pit and Dark Pit to lose their ability to fly. As they plummeted, two beams of light caught them.

"What's going out there Mr. Snake?" Isabelle asked.

"Nothing to worry about Isabelle, you're safe in here," Snake said, as the two hid in his box. The light turned them both to dust.

Rosalina and Diddy Kong failed in trying to fly away.

Wii Fit Trainer, Villager, and Duck Hunt were struck by the light as they panicked or did yoga.

The smashers were gone; except for one. Kirby was on his warp star, dodging the beams of light. He was pushing the star to its limits, trying to go as fast as possible. The beams of light were practically touching the star trail Kirby was leaving behind.

A beam of light flew into Kirby's path. He was flying too fast to be able to move out of the way in time. Kirby flew into the light, his form crumbling into dust.

 ** _It wasn't supposed to be like this._**

The smashers were gone.

The light began to grow, consuming the world, covering other planets. Eventually, the light covered the entire universe.

Galeem was able to remake to universe however it chose. No one is able to stop it.

Hope is gone and all was lost.

 ** _No._**


	2. Chapter 2: It Begins

**Author's Note: Sorta getting the hang of how to post chapters. Look, I made a line!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo, Super Smash Bros. and/or any franchises, characters or games that may/has appeared in this story. Only the Ocs belong to me. And this story's plot I guess.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: It Begins**

 _December 7, 2018_

"Smash Bros is here!"

An idiot walked out of a Gamestop, a plastic bag around his wrist and lifting a copy of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate above his head.

Should we care about who he is?

Probably, he is the narrator.

"I really need to stop talking to myself" I muttered, putting the game into the bag. After months of waiting and counting days, I finally got Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I sold half my other games to just have enough money to buy the game.

And the DLC fighter's pass.

And a Smash Bros. Gamecube controller.

And an adapter for the controller.

And all three Amiibo that was released with the game's launch.

"Who cares? This is gonna be fun!" I hummed myself as I walked to my car. My mom was visiting my brother in college, my sister was staying at a friend's house tonight and my dad was busy at work so I had the house to myself for a few hours. Plenty of time to try getting all the characters.

A passing van pulled me from my thoughts. I almost walked into the street while I was distracted.

After making sure I won't get hit, I began to cross the street again before returning to my thoughts.

"It's still a bit shocking they killed everyone," I thought. "Well, technically not killed but the fighters got turned into trophies."

A month before, November 1st to be more precise, Nintendo had a livestream focusing on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Ken and Incineroar were revealed as new fighters as well as Piranha Plant as DLC. The most important part revealed though, was the adventure mode, World of Light. In the trailer, Galeem fought and seemingly killed all the fighters with giant lasers, except for Kirby because he is apparently Smash Jesus.

My friends had freaked out after watching it; partly because of a new adventure mode and partly because of the trailer. I usually play Kirby so I'm pretty happy that he's still alive.

After throwing my bag and the game into the backseat of the car, I climbed into the driver's seat and began to pull out of the parking lot.

Quietly, I began to sing to myself the theme of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Lifelight as I drove.

" _Colors weave into a spire of flame. Distant sparks call to a past still unnamed_ "

I turned onto the main street.

" _Bear this torch against the cold of the night_ "

The stoplight stayed green so I kept driving.

" _Search your soul and re-awaken the undying light!_ "

As soon as I past the crosswalk, something crashed into the side of my car. My left arm lit up in pain as everything flew. The windows shattered and the world flipped.

Before my vision faded to black, I had one last thought:

 _ **No.**_

* * *

 **Author's Note: I am still trying to understand how posting works on this site works so the formatting may be off. I'm just mentioning that because I may change the formatting in previous chapters.**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3: I have no Idea

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo, Super Smash Bros. and/or any franchises, characters or games that may/has appeared in this story. Only the Ocs belong to me, still not sure about plural though. And this story's plot I guess.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: I have no Idea**

 _Why do I only see black?_

"Probably because my eyes are closed." I sat up and opened my eyes.

Then, immediately shut my eyes and threw myself onto my back again. "I must be dreaming."

I decided to stand back up and open my eyes. Somehow, I was standing on a massive cliffside overlooking a massive expanse of something indescribable.

Against the clouded sky were several islands that were just floating in the sky. They simply hung there like pictures that were edited onto the landscape.

I saw huge mountain ranges, some of them seemed to reach the sky and a few actually seemed to be volcanoes as there was what looked to be lava flowing from the tip.

There was several other notable locations I saw as well, scattered across the land. I saw several different kinds of towns (a sprawling metropolis, a castle town and a few that were too far away to see clearly), ancient ruins, a bridge spanning one of the giant ravines that separated the land into different areas, a giant cave, and a forest with giant mushroom caps poking out of the top. The most interesting part of the view was the blue light coming out from the ravines.

"I still have no idea where I am," I scratched the back of my head, trying to clear my thoughts.

"So, my eyes were closed and I was on my back, right?" I thought, "I think that means I was asleep. Why would I sleep here? There's no bed, no blankets, and the ground wasn't comfortable to lay on."

Taking a moment to organize my thoughts, I decided to try and remember what happened before I went to sleep. Then it hit me.

Something was missing. All I could feel was a vast emptiness inside me, as if someone took a spoon and scooped out my insides with it. I was the big matryoshka doll without the smaller ones. I was a junk car that had the engine removed.

"Why do I keep making up hyperboles to describe hunger? Wait, is it hyperboles? Or was it simile? Metaphors?" I kept scratching my head as I continued to think, "I can't remember which. Actually, what can I remember?"

I began to walk away from the cliffside, hand on chin as I tried to remember. Nothing came to mind. Not anyone I know, where I am, and not even my name. Then I walked into something.

Knocked down onto my butt, I swore under my breath and began to look at what I walked into. A massive monument stood there. 30 feet tall, a stone base and on top was the upper torso of some blue guy with a pair of wings behind him.

Wiping some dirt off the nameplate after getting up, I read a name listed on it.

 **Smasher No. 06**

 **Kirby**

"Who the heck is Kirby? Some famous guy? And what's a smasher?" I put my hand on the nameplate. As soon as my fingers grazed the engraving of the name, it began to glow a light blue and the monument began to crack and fall apart.

Quickly, I began to backpedal away but, in my haste, I tripped and fell on my butt, again. The light from the nameplate began to spread out covering the entire monument as it glowed brighter and brighter to the point where I had to cover my face. Eventually, the light died down, leaving behind... a blob?

A blob might be one way to describe it. It had a pink sphere for a body with two nubs on the sides. Maybe as hands? Underneath the main body were two more blobs, shaped like feet and a more reddish color compared to the rest of the body. It turned around and I saw that it had a blush on either side of a mouth. It's eyes were a glowing red, giving me a pretty bad feeling. Then, those red eyes locked onto me.

"What the heck is th-" I didn't get a chance to finish my sentence as it began to charge at me. Right before it smacked into me, however, it became a fireball, plowing into my stomach and sending me flying.

"Ow!" I landed and instinctively began to roll, trying to put out the flames before I felt my stomach. None of my clothes had caught on fire, no traces whatsoever. Before my shock at this revelation fully set in, the evil blob began to run at me again.

"Take this!" I tried to kick it like a soccer ball but it flattened itself against the ground, my foot going over its head. With no resistance, my kick threw me off-balance, giving the blob a new opportunity. It pulled out a wooden hammer (from where though?) and swung it at my head. Thanks to physics, I was sent flying through again. Towards the cliff. Where I will most certainly fall to my doom.

"Nonononononononono-" I was cut short again, this time by something I was grateful for. A wall. Slowly, I slid down it before I began to look at it. It actually doesn't look like a wall. Instead, it was a bright green energy flowing upwards from the ground. It spread left and right, becoming a giant circle encompassing the area.

Hesitantly, I pressed my hand against it and felt resistance. Great, now I can't even run away. A voice broke through my thoughts.

"Roll to your left! Now!"

I did as the voice commanded, with a massive pink stone crushing the spot where I was previously. I looked up once I got out of my roll, finding the owner of the voice on the other side of the wall.

A woman, looking maybe early 20's stood there. She had white hair that flowed down her back and startling blue eyes. She had on a red and black flannel jacket with blue jeans and a gray messenger bag which she was digging around in. Pulling out a silver handle, she somehow stuck her hand through the wall, dropping it in front of me.

"What? How did you do that?" I said, awestruck. I had struck the wall with enough force that should have broken my body without the wall even cracking but she stuck her hand through like it was air.

"I'll answer your questions later," she pointed at the killer pink ball, "Just defeat Kirby already!"

Grabbing the handle, I leapt back from Kirby as he ran, making him run into the wall instead. I used the moment to take a quick glance at the handle in my hand. It had a red button on the side so, I decided to press it. A glowing energy blade shot out of the end (thankfully, the end pointing away from me) with it being a blue near the hilt and transitioning to a red orange at the tip.

 **Item Acquired:**

 **Beam Sword**

My eyes glanced up, seeing Kirby run at me again. This time, I decided to attack him this time, running forward at swinging the blade at Kirby before he could react. Instead of neatly cutting him in half like I thought it would, he was sent flying at the wall. I ran to the spot where I predicted he would land but, Kirby pulled what looked to be a knife-boomerang and jumped while in midair, then come crashing down. When he landed, a beam shot out, directly at me. I dodged the beam by moving to the side before swinging at the puffball again but he was ready. Dodging to the side, he kicked me back hard enough to send me flying several feet.

When I landed, something was different. I checked my hands to see that they were covered in a rainbow aura. No, my whole body was.

"You filled the Final Smash Meter!" That was the girl, shouting at me as if I knew what was going on. "Use your Final Smash!"

Kirby decided to charge at me again but I stood still. Why bother using energy to run at him when he's coming at me? Slowly, I took a deep breath in, then out. I gripped the handle of my sword with both hands and raised the blade above my head. Even though Kirby was still outside of my range, something inside of me told to swing my sword now.

As I brought down the sword, the rainbow aura surrounding me began to transfer itself to the blade, making it grow bigger and bigger.

" _Big Big Blade Buster!_ " I cried out, smashing Kirby into the ground with the sword's humongous blade. After several seconds, the blade begin to shrink down to its normal size, at which point I pressed the button, turning the blade off. I began to walk to where Kirby used to be but, there wasn't a body. Instead, there was a figurine which I picked up.

Inspecting it, I saw Kirby on a circular platform, with a smile on his face and blue eyes instead of red. Staring at it, some foggy memory from the dark recesses of my mind came to the forefront. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

"Hey," it was the girl again. I guess the wall came down or something since she was right behind me. "What's your name?"

"My name?" I asked, turning to face her. "It's Nathaniel Ikeda. Nice to meet you."

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel Ikeda**

 **Items: Beam Sword**

 **Smashers: Kirby**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **MaskedGamer: Hello there! Welcome to Author's Theater! I'm the author, MaskedGamer! I guess you could call me MG for short.**

 **MG: What's Author's Theater you ask? Well, inspired by M******* from (censored for your convenience), this is sorta just an after-chapter place for some fourth wall breaking and fun. Not every chapter will have one but when there is one, I'll combine it with the author's notes. Maybe there will be some characters here to talk at some point, it'll make me feel less lonely.**

 **MG *slaps self*: Anyhow, chapter 3 is done! Thank you for the support and reviews! See you next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4: Nathaniel Joins the Battle

**Author's note:** **Super Smash Bros: Ultimate comes out tomorrow so hype for that.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Nintendo. I don't own Super Smash Bros. I don't own any of the characters or franchises in this story. I do own Nathaniel and the story.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Nathaniel Joins the Battle!**

The girl stared at me. I stared back. An awkward pause followed my introduction.

"Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" I asked.

"Maybe." She began to walk around me, still looking at me. Suddenly, I felt naked. She wasn't just looking at me, it was more like an analysis. She was peeking into my very soul.

After making a full circle, she stood in front of me and sighed. "Alright, I'll introduce myself then. My name is Crazy Hand."

"Do your parents hate you or something? Who names their kid Crazy?" I probably could have phrased that better.

Crazy Hand sighed, sounding as if she had heard this many times before, "It's not my actual name. It's more of an alias that I'm known by."

Before she could get another word out, my stomach rumbled. "Sorry."

Resting her face against a gloved hand, Crazy Hand sighed again. "Fine. I suppose food would be necessary to keep you focused on what I have to say."

Rummaging around in her bag again, Crazy Hand pulled out several green leaves.

"What, are we supposed to eat them?" I asked.

Muttering to herself (something about dim-witted, uncultured pigs), she threw the leaves down onto ground. Upon touching the ground, they created a cloud of smoke and once that had disappeared, a table and two chairs sat where the leaves used to be. Crazy gestured to a chair and sat down in the other.

Speechless, I took a seat as Crazy Hand began to rummage around in her bag again before pulling out a rather large picnic basket. Inside the basket were, sandwiches! I said a quick thanks and began to shove them in my mouth after Crazy Hand made a "go ahead" motion.

"Since you seem rather busy, I'll start. Simply put, you're in the world of Super Smash Bros. Two months ago, my brother, Master Hand, was captured by Galeem. Then, a month after that, Galeem managed to take the Smashers. I beli-"

"Wait wait wait wait wait. Who?" I swallowed some more sandwich before elaborating, "I have no idea what you're talking about. Galeem? The Smashers? What do you mean by the world of Super Smash Bros.?"

I think those nuggets of information were common knowledge from the shocked look Crazy Hand gave, "Are you serious?"

When I nodded, Crazy Hand sighed, "Didn't Super Smash Bros: Ultimate release in your world?"

"Dunno. I just woke up. I didn't remember my name or anything when I did."

"But you introduced yourself to me less than five minutes ago." she said, rather accusingly I might add.

"Oh yeah," I leaned back in my chair, feeling a little sick from how fast I ate the sandwiches. "Well, my name kinda came to my mind when I picked this up."

I pulled the figurine of Kirby from my pocket. As soon as she saw it, Crazy Hand snatched it from my hands immediately.

"It's an amiibo? Of Kirby?" She marvelled at it, turning it over in her hands.

"Is that what it's called?" I leaned across the table to get a better look at it. It was just a circular base with the pink puffball that tried killing me earlier sitting on it. He had a big smile as if he didn't have a care in the world.

Sitting back down, I asked, "What's so special about it? And what happened to the one that was attacking me? His name was Kirby?"

After putting the the amiibo away in her bag with enough caution to make someone think she was trying to put a glass container of acid inside, she turned to me and began to answer some of the questions I had on my mind. "Most likely, the one you fought, Kirby, **is** the amiibo."

"Really? Okay. I am not going to question how a four foot blob of murder can shrink into a handheld statue in the span of a few seconds but okay."

"Since you apparently lost your memories, I'll start at the beginning," she cleared her throat before beginning her tale.

" _It began years ago. About twenty years more precisely, that my brother, Master Hand, wanted to host a tournament._

 _A tournament of epic proportions. The kind where the champions will have everlasting glory and riches. Even being able to participate in the tournament would a mark of the participants' skills and abilities. A tournament that was whispered between people, even years after it ended, about it and where people would wait with baited breath for the announcement of the next one._

 _But that was all he had decided. He did not know who he had wanted to invite to the tournament, how to host it or even what kind. His plans for the tournament was decided upon seeing the first smasher in action._

 _Smasher No. 1: Mario. Master Hand had seen his numerous exploits and heroics. Always valiantly saving the innocent from the clutches of evil. After seeing Mario save the princess again from Bowser, my brother had his inspiration. Host a fighting tournament between the greatest names known to the multiverse!_

 _And so, he did. He gathered twelve fighters to participate in his grand tournament. Mario, the one who inspired the tournament, Donkey Kong, the king of the jungle, Link, champion of Hyrule, Samus, bounty hunter extraordinaire, Yoshi, the omnivore green dinosaur, Kirby, the pink puffball, Fox, leader of Star Fox, Pikachu, the electric mouse Pokemon, Luigi, Mario's brother, Ness, the PSI powerhouse, Captain Falcon, the supersonic F-Zero pilot, and Jigglypuff, the delightful balloon pokemon._

 _After a test by fighting them himself, Master Hand held the tournament to much widespread success. And so, he decided to hold another two years later._

 _He added more names to roster. Not just heroes this time, but their enemies as well as their allies. The newcomers for that tournament were Princess Peach, Bowser, the Ice Climbers, Sheik, Princess Zelda, Dr. Mario, Pichu, Falco, Marth, Young Link, Ganondorf, Mewtwo, Roy, and Mr. Game & Watch. That tournament was somewhat delayed due to a sudden bout of insanity on my part and accidently creating Giga Bowser from a wire frame. But it ended with Fox being the champion._

 _The tournament after that one had more newcomers. I'm tired of just listing names so I 'll tell you about the newcomers for the tournaments another time. That time, the tournament being postponed was not my fault. The tournament was postponed because of an old enemy of me and my brother's, Tabuu, decided to try and break free of his prison in Subspace. I'll tell you more about what Subspace is later, this is supposed to be an overview. The champion for that tournament was Meta Knight._

 _The most recent tournament was interrupted by, I guess you could say our dad, Master Core. Eventually, we made peace with him and managed to have the tournament with more fighters and the champion was yet another newcomer, Bayonetta._

 _Naturally, we decided to have another tournament due to how popular they were despite the constant interruptions by cosmic entities and-"_

"Lemme guess," I interrupted, "the tournament got postponed due to another attack by some entity?"

"Yep," Crazy Hand confirmed, with a rather depressed sigh. "Galeem, this time. Like Tabuu, he started with capturing my brother before making any big moves. Unlike Tabuu, however, Galeem somehow created fake copies of my brother and as I said before, a month ago, Galeem then captured all the smashers."

"So we're boned."

"Not exactly. I'll be honest. I have no idea why or how you're here but I think you could definitely help rescue the smashers and defeat Galeem," Crazy Hand placed the Kirby amiibo onto the table. Kirby seemed to be looking at me with big pleading eyes as I stared back.

"Why can't you do it?"

"My powers and my brother's are basically two halves of the full set. If I use my powers, Galeem will be able to find me and capture me."

"Which is bad."

"Very bad. Once Galeem has both of us, his powers will become far greater than they have ever been."

I stood up and walked over to the edge of the cliff to look at the landscape. "I'll help."

Crazy begin to get up, "Good. Then le-"

"On one condition."

Crazy paused, staring hard at me. She then sat down with a sigh. "Fine. Name your condition."

I turned to look at her. "When this is all over, let me join the tournament."

She sputtered, blindsided by my condition. After regaining some composure, she replied, "I can't do that. My brother is the one in charge of inviting newcomers. However, I can put in a good word for you."

"Alright." I walked over to her as she stood up. I reached my hand out and she shook it, cementing our agreement.

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel Ikeda, Crazy Hand**

 **Items: Beam Sword**

 **Smashers: Kirby**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **MG: *running in circles and screaming* JOKER'S IN SMASH! JOKER'S IN SMASH! OH MY DEITIES! OH MY! OIAFHRIGHREGIODFHIOHGIHAER!**

 **MG: *collapses***

 **Crazy Hand: *sipping a cup of tea with Nathaniel* I think he might be dead.**

 **Nathaniel: *shrugs* So? He's the author. He would have put us through a whole lot of misery**


	5. Chapter 5: Anything Pink is Evil

**Author's Note:**

 **Updates will be take longer since I'm using my playthrough of World of Light as reference for this story.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Nintendo, Smash Bros. and/or any franchises or characters in this story. I only own Nathaniel and this story. If I did own Nintendo, we would actually be getting Geno for Smash.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Anything Pink is Evil**

That was how Crazy Hand and I began our adventure. We were off to a great start too. I was fighting another killer pink puffball.

"Oof!" All the air in my lungs was knocked out as I was sent flying. After following the path down from the cliff, Crazy and I were promptly ambushed. But by what you may ask? What kind of horrendous monster could ambush the two great heroes, destined to save all of the worlds?

I mentioned it above, another killer pink puffball. It had a similar body to Kirby. A round shape, nubs for arms and bigger nubs for feet. Unlike Kirby, it had a swirl of hair(?), two ears atop its head, round blue eyes and the same shade of a light pink on its entire body. The name of this terrible creature? **_Jigglypuff_**.

I swung my Beam Sword at it, but it swiftly rolled out of reach. Then it began to run at Crazy, who would rather look through her bag than actually pay attention.

Before I could let out a warning, Jigglypuff wound an arm back, preparing to do a Pound. Jigglypuff was promptly sent flying before connecting the arm to Crazy. In her hands, Crazy held what looked to be a submarine mounted onto a gun handle.

"Knew I put the Steel Diver somewhere in my bag," Crazy walked up to where I was, focusing on Jigglypuff and gesturing at it. "Well, aren't you gonna get up close and personal?"

"Alright, alright," I grumbled, dashing at the puffball again. Seeing my charge, Jigglypuff began to start spinning in place, like a tire.

"Charging up another Rollout," I thought, moments before Jigglypuff shot at me, releasing all that stored energy. I sidestepped the attack and turned to begin chasing after it before I saw Jigglypuff's true target: Crazy Hand.

She kept dodging out of the way but Jigglypuff kept turning to keep chasing her. I swung my sword again at it, this time successfully, and Jigglypuff was knocked back.

"Yes!" I began to rush at Jigglypuff but when I swung again, it ducked under the blade. I prepared to stab at it but it fell asleep. Why would it fall asleep? Did Jigglypuff stay awake for three days? These thoughts flashed through my mind right before the moment where I felt an impact throughout my entire body. I was sent flying for several seconds until I crashed in the rock wall. Thankfully, it doesn't seem like I could be permanently injured when fighting an imprisoned Smasher. Unfortunately, this Jigglypuff wasn't one so it hurt. A lot.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" I screamed, feeling something inside my body literally break before falling about 10 feet to the ground, adding more to my injuries. I almost lost consciousness, but I managed to focus a little when I heard Crazy's voice.

"Here, eat this. You just need a little bite," I managed to focus my eyes on what she placed in front of me as my vision began to fade. A tomato? It had a big M on it but I managed to grab it and take a bite out of it. As soon as I swallowed, the rest of the tomato disappeared and I felt my wounds heal. My vision cleared and I got on my feet. Crazy was doing a good job of dealing with Jigglypuff, up until the point where Jigglypuff began singing which put Crazy to sleep, leaving me to deal with the murderball.

Jigglypuff began charging up another Rollout and I decided to start charging up my own attack. I got into a pose where I'm holding the sword across my body, preparing to slash. Breathe in and breathe out.

Jigglypuff let loose the Rollout and I swung my sword. Mid-swing, the blade doubled in length, extending long enough for the attack to hit Jigglypuff at a safe distance. Instead of being sent flying, Jigglypuff collapsed and began to turn into smoke before fading. What was left, instead of an amiibo, was a rainbow, floating ball of light.

"Uh, Crazy?" I ran over to where she was still sleeping and frantically shook her awake. After a few moments, I frantically began pointing at the ball. "What in the name of churros is that?"

"Churros?" Crazy questioned.

"Answer the question already."

"I think it's a spirit," Crazy got up and began to walk over to the ball. I trailed behind her, still feeling a bit nervous.

"Like a dead person?"

"Sort of," Crazy reached into her bag before pulling out rectangular screen. The right end was red with buttons on the upper part and a knob on the lower part while the left end had a knob on the upper part and buttons on the lower part. Crazy didn't bother with those, instead tapping on the screen a couple of times before the screen lit up and the spirit entered it.

Crazy gestured for me to walk with her as we traveled along the path. "When Galeem fused all the worlds together, what do you think happened to all the people living on those worlds?"

I thought for a bit before replying, "I suppose they all died from the fusion."

"In a way, they did die. Those people lost their bodies and now only exist as spirits. It looks like Galeem created copies of the Smashers he captured and is using spirits to control those copies. I guess you could call them Puppet fighters."

"So," I voiced my thoughts, "this means that we'll be fighting more than just the smashers. But, how many smashers even are there?"

Crazy stopped, putting a gloved finger on her chin, "I'm not sure. Kinda depends if you count the Echo fighters as separate or Pokemon Trainer as three. Counting Echo fighters as separate entries and Pokemon trainer as a single fighter, I think there is 74 fighters."

"74?" I exclaimed. Truthfully, I thought that I would be fighting about 40 at most. 74 different fighters and the puppet smashers, this was going to take a very long time.

"I might be missing, like 5 fighters though. We sent their invitations out very last-minute so I'm not sure where they are."

Before, I was able to complain any further, I saw something coming at us from further up the path. A dust cloud that was growing bigger by the second. As the source of the dust cloud got closer, I saw that it wasn't a single source but rather three. They looked like a trio of dinosaurs, pink, yellow, and red. Riding on the yellow one in the middle, was a mustached, stocky guy in gray overalls and hat on his head with an M on it.

"Crazy, who're those guys?"

Looking up from her device, Crazy swore before explaining, "The guy is Mario. The dinosaurs are Yoshi. Get ready for another fight."

She pulled out the gun she used against Jigglypuff and began shooting at the incoming dinosaurs. The red one got hit a few times but the others managed to dodge without a scratch.

I ran forward to intercept them but the yellow Yoshi just jumped over me. Pink Yoshi jumped and threw an egg at me. Ducking under it, I moved to swing at it but I felt something tug at my back. I flew off my feet and into a cramped and wet space.

"What the heck is this!" I thought. The space I was in was covered in some liquid and way too small. Did I mention dark, because there wasn't any light in there either. I felt my body shift back some more and the walls of where I was become harder. I tried to break the walls but the wall stayed firm.

"I don't like this. This is too small." I managed to think before my mind began screaming panic, over and over again. My breathing began to come out in shorter and shorter bursts. I began screaming, thrashing my body about in the tiny prison I was forced into. I was on the verge of tears, as the term for this came to mind despite my amnesia, _**claustrophobia**_.

Before I completely broke down, the walls around me began to crack and fall apart. Freedom! Fresh air! I stuck my arm out and used to help pull my body out of whatever it was that I was stuck in. Which turned out to be a red egg.

Egg=Yoshi came to my mind as I locked my eyes onto the cause of my imprisonment, "That's it. You die first."

Apparently, the Red Yoshi doesn't have much common sense as it stick its rather long tongue out at me, trying to grab onto me. Grabbing onto the tongue, I gave it a hard yank, pulling the Yoshi towards me as I readied my sword. Bringing the blade up, I shoved it into the Yoshi's throat and I moved my left hand to the lower jaw for better leverage before pulling my arms apart, cutting it in half. Thankfully, the body dissipated into smoke before leaving a corpse.

I turned, preparing to fight my next target, before being pushed back by a fireball. Quickly patting out the flames before they could spread, I saw Yellow Yoshi charging at me with Mario riding it as if the Yoshi was some medieval horse.

I dashed forward and jumped over them, trying to hit get into position to hit them from behind but Mario jumped into the air as well. He intercepted me, hitting me straight down and into the Yoshi he was riding who knocked me away with a headbutt. Before I was able to get back on my feet,I got hit again by another egg and fireball.

I hurried back onto my feet, hitting away yet another egg. I glanced over to where Crazy was who was currently dueling against Pink Yoshi. That ruins my chances of getting reinforcements.

"If I can't even the playing field with more people, then I'll just have to remove some people." I began to consider my options as I stared down Mario and Yellow Yoshi. I can't get close because Yoshi could move faster than me and with Mario riding on Yoshi, his speed doesn't matter. If I try jumping to surprise them, I'll get a repeat of what happened. They can keep me from being able to use my sword effectively by using projectiles. I could throw it but that wouldn't do much and I'll be defenseless. The only solution that would help right now would be getting rid of one but-.

Before my thoughts could continue further, I got interrupted by getting hit with more eggs and fireballs. "That's it! I am going to end you two!"

I ran at them, taking the fireballs and hitting away the eggs. The fireballs don't do a considerable amount of damage but the eggs would be able to stun me into getting more hits. I made my way to where the two were, swinging my sword at Mario, successfully knocking him off. Yellow Yoshi tried the tongue grab like the red one, but I grabbed the tongue again. Pulling the dinosaur close, I slashed it several times before throwing the dinosaur at Mario. Before the two could recover from the crash, I dashed forward again, hitting both with my sword. Before Yoshi was knocked away too far, I made another quick dash, grabbing it and slamming it against the ground. With Yoshi still reeling from my mad rush, I got an opportunity to charge up another slash which I decided to put to good use. This time, Yellow Yoshi turned into smoke and vanished.

I turned to face Mario, initiating another stare-off with him. Except he apparently didn't like that I killed his dinosaur because he charged at me.

I rolled to the side as Mario did a baseball slide at me and swung at him. My blade connected and a jolt ran up my arm. Mario had somehow turned into metal.

"What the-?"The shock of it mentally threw me off. Mario decided to take advantage with solid punch to my stomach. I flew back a bit and Mario followed dealing blow after blow to me. When I tried hitting back, my blade would just get blocked my Mario's metal skin and not do much damage.

After about a minute of this punishment, I managed to get some relief by rolling to avoid one of Mario's punches. When I got back on my feet, I felt it. The rainbow aura from when I had fought Kirby swarmed my body. All I had to do was hit Mario with my Final Smash and then the fight would be over. The problem was getting Mario into my range. It's clear that I don't shoot a laser or turn giant since my main weapon is the Beam Sword. That would mean Mario would stay out of my reach aaaaaaaaand he just walked into my range.

" _Big Blade Buster Break_!" I cried out, swinging the blade down onto Mario as it grew to enormous proportions. Mario was sent flying and landed face-first onto the ground. After a brief moment, he then got back up and into a fighting stance. "Seriously!?"

I was out of breath, my battered body was sore all over and I felt like something inside me broke again (maybe a bone, I don't remember anything about anatomy). My regular attacks don't even do make Mario stagger. That Final Smash was my last-ditch effort but it had gone to waste. I briefly considered throwing my sword at Mario but that would still leave me defenseless. My vision began to fade in and out while my legs slowly turned into jelly.

As Mario began to run towards me, I collapsed. Before I passed out, I heard an explosion.

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Crazy Hand**

 **Items: Beam Sword, Steel Diver (Crazy)**

 **Smashers: Kirby**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **MG: Hello! How are all of you doing!**

 **Nathaniel: Why the heck did I pass out at the end? What kind of boring cliffhanger is that!**

 **MG: Well, you did just get beat up by a metal statue.**

 **Nathaniel: I have a laser sword! It should have cut through metal like butter!**

 **MG: Video game logic. On the topic of the ending though, I originally planned for this chapter to be a bit longer but this seemed to be like a good cutting off point. In, addition, this chapter made me realize how big of a project writing this will be. Five chapters in and we still only have one smasher. At this rate, it'll take over 150 chapters to awaken all the smashers, and that doesn't even take into account the likelihood that there will be way more Puppet Fighters.**

 **Nathaniel: In other words, you're a moron.**

 **MG: Yep! But I'm a moron who holds your life in my hands.**

 **Nathaniel *sighs*: Please just end it here.**

 **MG: Alright! See you guys next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6: The First Time

**Disclaimer: I don't own Super Smash Bros., Nintendo, and any characters or franchises represented within this story. I only own Nathaniel. I wish I did own Nintendo though.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: The First Time**

I was awake before my eyes opened. I kept my eyes closed while listening to what was around me. Someone was humming a song, it sounded somewhat familiar but I couldn't remember it.

"Of course, that applies to most of my memories," I thought. I was mainly keeping my eyes closed since I was trying to remember what I just dreamed of. It had something to do with ducks and a grilled cheese sandwich, not entirely sure about context but the dream had something to do with those two.

Slowly, I sat up, shrugging off a blanket someone put on me. I looked over at the source of the humming to see Crazy Hand roasting something over a campfire. While I was unconscious, she apparently set up a camp, complete with a tent, a campfire, and logs to sit on.

"Are you sure that you should have a fire?" I asked, moving to sit across from Crazy on the other side of the fire.

"It's okay. The puppet fighters don't have enough awareness to see smoke and think of a camp. They're mostly set to patrolling certain area and guard Smasher statues," She replied, rather nonchalantly. "Want a s'more?"

I took the s'more she offered and started eating it. "What happened since I got knocked out?"

"Not much. I took care of the Pink Yoshi and I finished off Mario when you passed out. Then, since you weren't going to wake up any time soon, I set up camp to wait. And about that," She locked eyes with me, her tone gaining a harder tone, "You need to take better care of yourself. You got hurt pretty badly against Jigglypuff and you passed out when fighting Mario. If I wasn't there, they would have killed you!"

"Alright alright," I put my hands up trying to calm her down a bit as her voice reached a crescendo. "I'll try not to get killed. Quick question: why did I pass out? My injuries weren't that bad, right?"

"Yes, your wounds from the last fight were serious and you would have went unconscious from them but most likely, not until after the fight. Final Smashes take a lot of energy to do when you're not using a Smash Ball so you could probably only do one per day without straining yourself too much. I changed the system so the Final Smash meter is only filled once a day."

"Thank you?" I was a bit off-put by the terms I didn't know like Smash Balls and Final Smash meter but I'll ask about those later. "How did I heal so fast? And what about that tomato you gave me?"

"I used healing items to heal your wounds from the last fight," Crazy got up and walked over to the tent. "The tomato was a Maxim Tomato, it completely heals you. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get some sleep."

"Wait!" I said, causing her to pause before turning to stare at me. "If you're sleeping in the tent, where do I sleep?"

She pointed to where I woke up. There was a sleeping bag and the blanket. "I get the tent since I set up camp and saved your butt twice already. Go get some sleep. I can't have you dying on me again because you're tired. You're my only help after all."

Crazy ducked inside the tent and zipped the entrance closed before I could respond. Begrudgingly, I walled over and threw myself onto the sleeping bag. I wasn't feeling tired so I just stared at the night sky. Stars littered the sky and galaxies shined in various colors.

"I wonder," my thoughts began to drift. "Is the sky like this in my world? Crazy said something earlier about me being from another world, right? I have to ask her about that too.

"Geez. The things to ask her is long enough already," I muttered out loud. I began to list off what I needed to ask her. "What smashers we have to fight, their abilities, her brother, Galeem, what he can do"

As I kept listing my questions, I felt my eyelids become heavy and soon, I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The next day, we began to continue our journey after a quick breakfast and Crazy packing the camp into leaves (I still don't get how those work). After about 5 minutes, we stopped.

"Here's our next stop," she said.

We stood in front of some ruins, it looked like a pavilion with pillars circling around it. Blocking the entrance in front of us was another statue like the one that had Kirby. I walked forward to take a look at the nameplate.

 **Smasher No. 1  
** **Mario**

"Mario? He's the one who inspired the tournament and the original of the one we fought yesterday, right?" I asked Crazy.

"Yep. He's a well-balanced fighter but you should do alright. Since only one person can fight to awaken a smasher," She pulled out another leaf that turned into a lawn chair and sat, "I'm just going to wait here for you."

I tapped on the nameplate, causing it to glow. Around me, a bright green light rose from the ground as the statue began to glow and crack. Once the arena was finished, I stood facing off against Mario. Unlike the puppet fighter from yesterday, he had blue overalls on and his shirt and hat were red. Like the puppet fighter and when I fought Kirby, his eyes were glowing a murderous red.

"Let's go!" I shouted, rushing at Mario. He began running at me as well and right before we collided, he went into a baseball slide, tripping me. I shot to my feet, trying to swing at him but Mario pulled something from behind him and I was suddenly facing the other way.

"What?" I turned to face him again but Mario did the same trick again. "Stop doing that!"

"That's Mario's Cape," Crazy called to me, wearing sunglasses and holding a tanning mirror. "It can be used to reflect projectiles and turn enemies around."

"For how you acted last night, you sure aren't worried about me getting killed right now!" I was sent flying after Mario turned me around with his cape again.

"You're not in complete mortal danger yet! Besides, I can't always help you with fighting!"

I am going to get her back for this. I jumped over Mario as he tried to do another slide attack on me. When I landed, I immediately charged up another slash and let it go after a second. The blade lengthened enough to barely knock Mario back slightly. I ran forward as he slid back and swung at him again, knocking him back further.

"Shoot! I knocked him too far away. I can't reach him without charging but I need to keep up the pressure!" I thought. A solution struck me. I threw my sword as hard as I could at Mario. It bounced off his head and I dashed forward, catching the handle before it hit the ground and grabbing Mario's collar in the same moment. After striking Mario in the head again a few times with the butt of the handle, I slammed him on the ground and kicked him away.

While flying through the air, Mario righted himself and began shooting a couple of fireballs at me. I knocked them away with the flat of my blade as I ran, trying to get to where Mario was going to land. The fireballs slowed me down enough that Mario landed without an issue and he pulled out some kind of machine on his back. I faltered as I was trying to figure out what it did but I got the answer in the form of a mouthful of water. I got pushed from the machine shooting water at me before I noticed Mario glowing with a rainbow aura.

"He can do a Final Smash?" I leapt back. "This is bad. I don't know what his Final Smash is."

"He shoots a giant fireball!" Crazy shouted, sounding a bit panicked. She was standing at the edge of the barrier, her chair turned over as if she leapt out of it.

"What?" I turned to face her, which turned out to be a very bad idea.

"OH YEAH!" Mario shouted as his hands burst into flames. He slammed them together and shot out a pair of corkscrewing giant fireball that hit me dead on. Thankfully, like the fight with Kirby, the fire didn't actually set me on fire. However, I was sent flying back into the wall by the Final Smash.

"This isn't as bad as when Jigglypuff did Rest on me," I thought as I got back on my feet. Then I noticed something that put a smile on my face, my Final Smash was ready. I ran at Mario so I could use it but he kept jumping back and shot more fireballs at me which I knocked away with my sword.

"So he knows to stay out of my sword range," I thought carefully for how to get close enough to use my Final Smash. Then, I realized the answer was the same as before.

I dashed forward, dodging a few more fireballs. Once I judged that I won't miss, I threw my sword at Mario again, aiming for his head. He was prepared for the throw this time, pulling out his cape and swiped it at the sword, sending it back at me. Just like before, I caught the handle of the sword while it was in midair and I was close enough to Mario to let loose my Final Smash.

" _Breaking Buster Big Blow!_ " I jumped, readying my blade as it grew bigger and bigger before slamming it straight down on Mario. Apparently, that was enough as the wall went down and Mario's amiibo landed on the ground, next to a brown bag?

"What's this?" I picked it up and took a peek. Inside was, gold coins with a cross insignia on them.

"Yahoo! I'm rich!" I started jumping for joy, until Crazy grabbed the bag from my hand.

"Are you joking? This is only about 200 Smash Coins," Crazy said. I kept a blank look on my face as she elaborated, "200 Smash Coins isn't that much, it's about 2 dollars in your world."

"I have no idea how the currency in my world works but I'm just gonna assume I'm not rich."

"No."

"Dream killer," I muttered under my breath as I went to pick up Mario's amiibo. Mario's amiibo looked like he was ready to fight, with a trail of fire coming from his hand as he stood in a fighting pose. As I looked at Mario, another memory came back to me.

* * *

 _I was at my uncle's house for Thanksgiving, which we did every year. I was pretty young, maybe 3 or 4. My sister was still crawling and I actually got along with my brother so that age range seems appropriate. My oldest cousin hadn't been born yet because my aunt looked about 6 months pregnant. My parents were watching football with my grandparents in the living room downstairs. Meanwhile, I was upstairs playing with my siblings._

 _My uncle came upstairs to check on us. My mom had two brothers but he was the only one to have gotten married. He had an intelligent look, clean-shaven with glasses and hair swept to the side._

" _How are you kids doing?" He asked. My sister babbled something out while my brother and I responded with positives as we played Pokemon on our Gameboys. "Would you like to play a new game?"_

" _Yeah!" My brother cried out. I followed his response with the same reaction and my sister tried copying us._

 _My uncle walked over to the T.V. and went into the cabinet next to it. I was excited. I knew that was where he kept the games for the Gamecube like The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and Super Mario Sunshine. Admittedly, those were the only two games that I played on the Gamecube but that was soon to change._

" _Okay, here it is. Just don't tell your parents," my uncle put a disk into the system and turned on the T.V. The game loaded and announced the title of the game we were looking forward to play._

"Super Smash Brothers! Melee!" _It was glorious. We played as all different kinds of characters. My brother mostly chose Pikachu, my uncle mostly played as Mario, and I loved playing as Kirby._

 _That was the first time I played a Smash Bros. game._

* * *

Several other memories flashed through my mind and with them, I felt more complete.

"Aren't you supposed to be a giant floating glove?" I asked Crazy.

"What?"

"Yeah. In the games, you were a big, white, floating glove that was insane," I elaborated, wiggling my left fingers. "You'd show up with Master Hand in Classic Mode."

"It's complicated," she responded, walking off.

"Then can't you un-complicate it?" I called out, moving to follow her when I got knocked off my feet by a blow to my side. I looked at what hit me while I was still on the ground and saw a giant robot.

"R.O.B.?" I questioned. I was familiar enough with R.O.B. to know that it normally wasn't so big, towering at about twice my height and the arms were a dark gray instead of their normal red. "Crazy!"

R.O.B. began to dash at me when an explosion blew up on his left arm. Unflinchingly, it kept charging at me and spun it's arms around as I rolled out of the way.

"We're fighting R.O.B.-" Crazy was behind me, trying to explain what R.O.B. can do before I gestured to stop.

"I remember most of what the Smashers can do. It came with the memory I just got. Oh yeah," I turned to point an accusing finger at Crazy. "You **will** tell me about that complicated issue someday."

I looked back at R.O.B. in time to see him charging something between its arms before shooting it at us. A top. I moved to the right while Crazy dodged to the left. Then, I noticed something strange.

R.O.B. had a light on its that indicates the charge of R.O.B.'s laser which charges over time. Right now, it was at a full glow, indicating a full charge. The problem is that it was too soon for it to be at maximum charge.

R.O.B. locked eyes with me before blasting out a colorful laser from his eyes. I ducked behind a pillar before peeking my head out. Fully charged again. This is bad.

"Crazy! His laser charges up immediately!" I cried from behind the pillar as R.O.B. began a barrage of lasers on my hiding spot. I also heard a series of explosions that seemed to come from where R.O.B. was sniping at me but I didn't feel like getting shot.

"He's barely flinching from my shots!" That was Crazy's voice. So, the puppet fighter is only paying attention to me? The explosions must be from her gun but that means she isn't under siege like I am. I sat down cross-legged and began drawing in the dirt with the butt of my sword.

"So, I'm here," I drew a circle with a stick man on one side, "and R.O.B. is over here." I drew a square on the opposite side of the circle. I didn't know where Crazy was so I couldn't draw her in the diagram. "If I want to attack, I need to be close enough to use my sword. But, R.O.B. is able to just pelt me with lasers so I'm at a disadvantage. The answer is simple though. I just need to close the distance between us."

My ears began to pick up something. R.O.B. wasn't shooting lasers constantly. There was a few seconds in between each shot. I thought back to R.O.B.'s animation in the game. Before each laser, R.O.B. would cock his head back then push it forward to shoot. If this R.O.B. was doing the same, that would explain the delay between the lasers I was hearing. A plan flashed through my mind.

I turned to face the column that I was hiding behind. The column looked to be in good condition on this side but I quickly amended that, making several small depressions running up to the top with my sword. Using those as footholds, I began to climb up, using my sword to make more footholds as I climbed.

"Good thing I'm not afraid of heights," I muttered, pausing right before the top. I could have put a little more thought in the climbing part of my plan as the pillar was connected to an overhang. The edge of the overhang was in reach but that would mean I would have to grab it, then swing my feet to try and get on top of it. "Wait."

I stabbed the pillar with my sword to use as a platform so I could have an easier time to get on top. Once I had gotten on top, I peeked over the slight incline to check on R.O.B. It was still shooting at where I was hiding. Crazy was some distance behind it, shooting from behind a different pillar.

"Well, no time like the present," I told myself, preparing to jump and start attacking R.O.B.

" _You can't do it. Even if you get up close, nothing is going to stop R.O.B. from moving out of your range and with how fast the laser charges, it'll get at least five hits off at least,"_ a little voice in the back of my head told me, rather cynically I might add too. I took the chance to look at the area around the robot. It stood in the middle of the pavilion with no obstacles surrounding it until the pillars. If R.O.B. dodges before I could get a hit on it, R.O.B. will be able to get some hits on me as I ran for cover plus, it would be aware of the trick that I'm going to pull.

"Then, I just have to end it with one hit," I shot back at the voice. "I may not have my Final Smash but Crazy has been shooting at it. It should be weak enough."

With that, I leapt off the overhang and rolled into a sprint in between the lasers. As soon as I got close enough, I jumped, aiming for R.O.B.'s head. The eyes glowed for a second but I landed on top before it could fire the laser. Holding my beam sword in a reverse grip, I stabbed straight down, right through R.O.B.'s lightbulb. Slowly, I felt R.O.B. die down.

"Is it dead? Did I kill it?" I asked out loud. My questions were quickly answered when the robot vanished into smoke and I fell.

"Ow!"

"Are you alright?" Crazy walked from where she was hiding and began to put the spirit into her tablet-thingy.

"Isn't that a Nintendo Switch?" I asked, checking my body for bruises.

"Yep. How much do you actually remember?" She finished with the spirit and picked the sack of money that the puppet fighter dropped.

¨Um," I put my hand to my forehead, trying to recall, ¨I remember some old memories, some Nintendo consoles, that one time in 9th grade where I was doing a presentation and completely botched it, and some fighters.¨

¨Which ones?¨ Crazy was inspecting something else that R.O.B. had dropped but I wasn't paying too much attention to it.

¨Mario, Kirby, R.O.B., Snake, Pac-man, Pikachu, Megaman,¨ I listed off before pausing, "There was also something about a guy named Shrek?"

"Who's Shrek?"

"Dunno, I just remembered something about him being in Smash?" I turned to Crazy, "What's that?"

"It's a Staff," Crazy held it up for me to look. It was about 3 and a half feet long, with what looked like quill tip at the end. On the other end looked like a yellow plume and a white ribbon wrapped around the main part of the staff.

Crazy somehow managed to put all of it in her bag before tossing something at me. It was her Steel Diver. "Since I now have the Staff, you could get some use out of a ranged weapon. Keep it."

 **Item Acquired:  
** **Steel Diver**

" _Giving you a gun is a very bad idea,_ " the cynical voice in my head whispered.

Ignoring the jerk, I asked Crazy, "Where to next?"

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Crazy Hand**

 **Items: Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Staff (Crazy)**

 **Smashers: Mario, Kirby**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Nathaniel: Hey everyone! This time, Crazy and I will be covering updates since MG is, well.**

 **MG: *runs by screaming***

 **Crazy: Yeah. Anyway, some of the previous chapters have had some minor changes. Specifically, just fixing a typo but overall, nothing too major.**

 **Nathaniel: *looks over list* He really is a moron, he missed a period here. Then, he completely skipped a word in this paragraph. Also, titles got added. Since, there isn't a winter special or anything,**

 **C & N: Happy Holidays! The next chapter is in development!**


	7. Chapter 7: I have a gun and a jerk

**Disclaimer: I don't own Nintendo, Super Smash Bros. and any characters or franchises represented/appear in this story. I only own Nathaniel and the story. (When can I stop taking the disclaimer seriously?)**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: I have a gun... and a jerk**

"Dunno. Your choice," Crazy answered.

I glanced around the pavilion. There were three exits (four if you count the way we entered), north, east, and west. Blocking each exit, a Smasher Statue sat. The statue that had Mario would have blocked the south exit if it was still there.

"Well, I think we should take this one," I said, walking to the statue on the east. Checking the nameplate, I read:

 **Smasher No. 45  
** **Villager**

"Villager? He sounds pretty harmless."

"Nathaniel no. Stop!" Crazy began to run towards me but I already activated the statue. She smacked right into the wall that generated and I switched my Beam Sword with the Steel Diver. In place of the statue, after the light died down, a kid stood there.

He was about 5 and a half feet tall, wearing a red shirt with a blue number one on it. It looked somewhat cartoonish and I wouldn't immediately think of a fighter when I saw him but I would think the same of Mario.

I shot at him, firing a mini torpedo that sped through the air, which Villager somehow caught and put into his pocket. Shocked, I could only say, "Are you kidding me."

"I was trying to warn you," Crazy said from the other side of the wall, "Villager can pocket items or projectiles to use later but he can keep one thing in the pocket at a time."

"Great," I muttered dodging the torpedo that Villager threw back. Villager dashed towards me, pocketing another torpedo and dodging several others as I began to duel wield, the gun in my left hand and the sword in my other.

Shooting a few more times at Villager, I jumped over Villager as he threw what he already pocketed and I got a slash on his back. While he was flying, he pulled a slingshot out of his back pocket and got a shot off, hitting me in the forehead.

"Little brat," I growled, flinching from the hit. Locking eyes with Villager, I saw him pulling out a rocket (I have no idea where he kept that) and firing it at me. Leaping over the rocket, I saw that Villager was watering a small sapling, placed where I was going to land. Within seconds and defying nature itself, the sapling sprouted into a massive tree that struck me in the gut, hard.

"Watch out for Villager's axe! And don't get hit by the tree if he chops it down!" Crazy shouted.

I shot some more at Villager, watching him pocket the first and dodging the rest. Pulling out the rocket again, he began riding it at me. Charging quickly, I swung the Beam Sword at him, knocking Villager off the rocket and making it explode. I ran at Villager, trying to get another hit but I made a mistake. I forgot Crazy's warning.

Before the blade connected, I felt something cut across my stomach. I was sent flying back. Looking back at Villager, he had an axe in his hands and a violent glint in his eyes.

"Oh no."

He charged at me and I swung at him with my sword again, stretching the blade to hit. Villager put his arms up like he was trying to block a blow to the face and a gray bubble appeared around him. The bubble seemed to act as a shield as my sword didn't do any damage but made the bubble shrink a bit. Releasing the bubble, Villager resumed the charge.

" _Well,"_ a voice in my head commented, drawing out the well, " _He has a shield to block your sword and he can catch your bullets. You're dead in the water._ "

"You're a donkey," I shot back mentally, quickly formulating a plan. I tossed my sword at Villager. Unfortunately, he pocketed it but he still got hit in the side of the head by a torpedo. I took the opportunity to shoot another one at him. While Villager can only pocket one thing at a time, I overlooked the fact Villager has two hands. He pulled the sword out and pocketed the torpedo.

" _Good job,"_ snarked the voice, " _You gave him a weapon. Did I miss Christmas?"_

"Nathaniel!" Crazy was digging around in her bag and throwing something through the wall, "Eat this!"

" _It really is Christmas, isn't it?_ " the voice commented as I caught the item. I only saw a red and white cap before putting it in my mouth and swallowing. Instantly, I doubled in height.

"A Mushroom?" while my voice was usually a little deep, it now boomed. "All right then."

Villager tried running at me again to use the axe again but I just kicked him like a football, launching him into the wall and breaking apart into smoke. The Villager amiibo, my Beam Sword, and a sack of gold fell to the ground in place of a body.

"That was a bit anticlimactic," I commented, shrinking while I walked to pick up my reward.

"What are you doing?" Crazy asked.

"Putting my stuff away," I answered, a bit confused. "I can't just hold onto my gun everywhere I go, right?"

"It's sticking out of your pocket," as Crazy pointed out, it really was. Only part of the Steel Diver managed to fit in my pocket so half of it was poking out. "Just put it into your inventory."

"How do I do that?"

"Imagine a really big pocket or something behind you and place it in there," Crazy explained as I did what she said. The moment the gun left my hand, it suddenly vanished.

"Whoa! Wait. How do I get it out now?"

"Just reverse the process. Imagine the pocket with what you want inside and reach in to pull it out." I did as Crazy explained again to my amazement.

"I'm just not going to question the science of this," I said staring at the Steel Diver that I pulled out of thin air.

"It's a kind of magic that most residents of game worlds have. Since you're just starting, you can only carry about 10 items. There's exceptions for certain items like the amiibo and other important stuff called Key Items," patting her bag, Crazy added, "You can increase the limit of your inventory with certain items like my bag."

"I forgot, video game logic," I muttered, picking up the Villager amiibo and prepared to get my next memory.

* * *

 _Several images flashed through my mind restoring bits of my memory but only one stood out._

 _It was my first day of high school. Though technically, it was before school started and I was eating breakfast with my siblings. I was a nervous wreck._

" _Oh come on Nate! There's nothing to be nervous of," my sister said._

" _Easy for you to say, you're still in middle school. It's not as if you have any trouble making friends," I replied, taking a bite of cereal._

 _My brother tried reassuring me, "High school isn't like the movies Natey. No one's going to bully you. Even if there were bullies, they wouldn't notice you."_

" _That's not the issue. High school only lasts four years. After that I have to go college. Then, I have to go out into the world by myself and get a job. That might not even happen if I don't pick a major to study and a college to go to. Plus, my choices might not even matter if I don't pass my classes or get a good score on the SAT. Then, after I graduate there's the problem of the jobmarketmyskillsetmightnotbeenoughtosupportmeandI'llenuphomelessandtakingdrugsortherecouldbeanotherworldwarandwealldieinhorriblefirebombingsorwecouldgetdraftedtothefrontlinesa-"_

" _Nathaniel, it's 7 o'clock. That's too early for an existential crisis," my sister commented while lathering her toast liberally with butter. "Also, aren't you supposed to start having breakdowns after you start high school, not the morning you do?"_

" _Yep," my brother agreed._

" _Ow," was all I could say with my injured pride. We finished breakfast and made last-minute preparations for school before we started to leave. As we made our way out the door, our mother stopped us._

" _(static noises)! Nathan! (more static)! First-day-of-school pictures!" She gestured for us to group together in the doorway with a camera as we did every year. With a click, she captured our smiles as we went off to begin a new school year._

* * *

"Wait," I thought. "I don't remember their names? What's with that?"

"Is something wrong?" Crazy asked. She was behind me, probably while I was distracted by that memory.

"Nothing," I tossed the amiibo to her. No point in bothering her with my memory. I might remember their names from another smasher anyway. Gesturing at the other statues, "Should we go awaken those smashers?"

The answer to my question was a resounding boom. I spun trying to locate the source, before I heard Crazy cry out, "Brother!"

Glancing over to her, I saw that Crazy was staring at some spot above me. Following her line of sight, I saw a giant, white gloved right hand, floating in the sky.I whispered in awe, "Master Hand."

The giant hand snapped and I shielded myself. Instead of an attack, I heard a light ping and glanced back at Master Hand. He snapped again and vanished, leaving me to wonder, "What was the point of that?"

"To block us," Crazy answered, pointing at the other statues. I walked up to them but before I could touch one, I banged my head against something. "He put up barriers to block us from getting to the statues."

"So we just have to keep following the path we picked?" I asked.

"Unfortunately," she answered, walking off. "Come on!"

I jogged to catch up to her but eventually fell into pace behind her. Within moments of leaving the pavilion, we got attacked again. By more lasers.

"Ow! Ow ow ow! Wait," I said, pausing a moment from my injuries. "These don't hurt as much as R.O.B.'s"

I looked the path that the lasers would have traveled to see that it was another R.O.B. that fired the lasers with several differences. The first is that there were two this time. The second is that these were much smaller, below regular size. The third is that they were accompanied by another smasher, who looked like a yellow turtle with a bow in some floating robot clown face thingy.

Seeing my confused look, Crazy clarified for me, "The turtle is a Koopaling named Wendy. You go attack, I'll shoot from here with my staff."

"Sounds like a plan to me," I responded, pulling out my Beam Sword and broke into a run down the hill. I sidestepped lasers from the robots and the occasional cannonball that Wendy fired from the clown's mouth. I saw lasers shoot over my head and hit the R.O.B.'s so I decided to focus on Wendy.

She pulled out a squeaky hammer but I decided to finish this quickly. I threw my sword at her to stun her and caught before it hit the ground, the same trick I pulled before. I swung at her with the blade landing a solid hit and kept my momentum going throwing the sword again before pulling the Steel Diver out to shoot several torpedoes to rack up damage. Wendy landed on the ground and I charged up a smash attack, slashing with the Beam Sword's full length and power, causing Wendy to fall apart into smoke.

I heard a couple of explosions behind me, presumably the R.O.B.s. Picking up the gold that Wendy dropped, I commented, "That finished way faster than the previous fights."

"That's because they were all part of the same spirit," Crazy waved her arm at the rainbow orb that was floating about. "That caused them to all be somewhat weaker compared to the other Puppet Fighters."

"What about that Metal Mario which almost killed me?" I questioned as Crazy began to collect the spirit into her Switch. "It seemed too strong to be sharing a spirit but it was with those Yoshis."

"That's because the Mario did have it's own spirit. The Yoshis were sharing one spirit and the Mario had its own. You just don't remember what happened in the end since you fainted."

"Don't shame me over that," I turned to follow the path ahead of us. "Uh, Crazy. A little help with this please?"

In front of us, the path split in two, one running north and the other moving south. Along with the split was a sign post, with arrows following each of the road.

Normally, the signpost would be helpful since I had no idea where the paths led but there was a small problem. I couldn't read what was written on the signs. The signpost was written in something that vaguely reminded me of Japanese but also a bit of English.

My inner voice spoke up, " _Here. I'll translate. You….. Are….. Stu-"_

"Don't finish that," I interrupted.

"Did you say something?" Crazy asked as she looked over the signpost.

"Um, yeah. I'm just wondering what language this is."

Turning her attention back to the signpost, Crazy answered my question, "It's Hylian. This is a pretty ancient version of the dialect though."

She pointed south, "According to the sign, there's a shop and the shoreline that way." Pointing in the opposite direction, "Then, there's a raceway that way. Which do you feel like going to?"

"There's a shop? What would a shop even sell?" I gasped at a small hope, "Maybe they sell bazookas. I hope they sell bazookas."

" _Why would you need a bazooka?_ " The voice in my head asked. " _It would just be overkill._ "

Ignoring the voice for being a killjoy, I turned to Crazy, "Let's go south. The shop might have useful stuff."

"They would not have bazookas," she promptly stated before taking the path south.

" _Next time, don't say stuff that makes you sound like a maniac out loud._ "

"Hush already," I said, quieting the voice while I jogged to catch up to Crazy.

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Crazy Hand**

 **Items: Beam Sword (Nathaniel), Steel Diver (Nathaniel), Staff (C)**

 **Smashers: Mario, Kirby, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **MG: Truthfully, this chapter was a bit disappointing after last week's chapter. Plus the last fight was a bit rushed so I might just edit this one at some point in the future.**

 **Nathaniel: Stop making excuses and do it then!**

 **MG: *ignoring the fact Nathaniel is tied up and hanging feet first from the ceiling* On a different note, Happy Holidays again! This is probably going to be the last chapter of the year so, Happy New Year while we're at it!**

 **Crazy: *sipping hot chocolate* Before we end, how about a question for the readers. You guys can put your answer in the reviews but what's a resolution that you're making for 2019? You don't have to answer, I'm asking out of curiosity is all.**


	8. Chapter 8: SO MUCH ITALICS

**Author's Note: WHAT'S THIS! Another 2018 chapter? Yeah that's right. I lied, in a sorta good way I guess. I didn't mention this last chapter but we got 10+ favorites and followers for this story!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Nintendo, Super Smash Bros., or any characters and franchises represented or appearing in this story. *screams***

* * *

 **Chapter 8: SO. MUCH. ITALICS.**

"Go down already you giant monkey!" I screamed, shooting several torpedoes at an ape with a rather fashionable tie. About five minutes of walking since the sign, we got ambushed by a puppet fighter, which we've been fighting for about 15 minutes. Where's Crazy you ask?

Brushing the explosions off, DK charged through and tossed Crazy at me. I ducked, hearing Crazy crash into something behind me and I threw the Steel Diver at Donkey Kong, aiming for the head.

The monkey caught the gun.

 _The monkey caught the gun._

 _ **The monkey caught one of my only two weapons. Which it began to use against me.**_

" _The monkey has a gun and refuses to take his medication! Heh heh, you really are not having the greatest time right now,_ " Mr. Jerk, the voice in my head commented as I ran, trying to dodge the torpedoes that Donkey Kong fired. " _By the way, Mr. Jerk is quite unoriginal._ "

"Well I can't just keep calling you the voice in my head!" I mentally shot back, as I tumbled from actually getting shot.

" _Maybe you could call me Oblivion. That sounds cool,_ " Mr. Jerk said.

"How edgy," I muttered as I looked for Crazy. She was lying on the ground some distance behind DK.

She wasn't moving and she was laying on the ground, bleeding from the head. "Great, I can't rely on her for a deus ex machina."

" _You don't remember your siblings names but you remember what a deus ex machina is,_ " Oblivion commented. " _How does your brain work?_ "

"You should know, you live in it." I rolled to escape DK's headslam and pulled out my Beam Sword. "For a product of my imagination, you run your mouth quite a bit."

I was met with no response so I decided to focus completely on Donkey Kong. There was several problems when it came to the puppet fighter. The first was that none of my attacks were strong enough to make DK flinch. The second was that he was immensely powerful, probably because it looked like he was under the effects of a Mushroom. The third is that Crazy is knocked out so I'll get no support.

" _What do you mean no support? I'm here."_

"You're a mental voice, you can't even be a distraction for the giant monkey." I sidestepped a punch and slashed the ape's side. Just like with the torpedoes, DK was barely fazed.

" _How about a hint? Did you know deus ex machina is Latin for god from the machine?"_ Oblivion said,

in a somewhat distracted manner.

"HOW IS THAT A HINT!" I screeched as one of DK's punches came a little too close for my liking.

" _Crazy's basically a god. That's all I'm going to say for now."_ And with that, I felt that Oblivion wouldn't talk until the battle was over.

"You think he would have more concern since he's in my body," I muttered. The hint that Oblivion gave me was that Crazy's a god and what deus ex machina means, "god from the machine." The only connection there is god.

I don't know why I'm focusing so much on the hint but I glanced over at Crazy. "Are you kidding me."

I charged a quick smash attack, pushing DK back slightly, and ran towards Crazy. I shoved my hand into her messenger bag. I felt something and grabbed it, right before I was blown away by a torpedo. Looking at what I grabbed while rolling away from DK, it's a banana.

 **Item Acquired:**

 **Banana(?)**

"I could use it to distract him," I thought as I got back on my feet and dodged another torpedo. Something told me I wasn't supposed to use it like that. The banana didn't seem like a banana. Part of it seemed angled.

Holding it by the stem, I pointed the banana at DK like it was a gun. Squeezing my hand a little, it turns out the banana really is a gun. The banana shot out and in an explosion of potassium and pain, collided with Donkey Kong's face. The ape was launched back and dropped my Steel Diver.

 **Item Acquired:**

 **(Definitely a) Banana Peel**

"Revenge Time!" I shouted, running at the ape to exact revenge. I'm just gonna leave the exact details out and to put it simply, it was overkill.

Being thankful that Puppet Fighters do not bleed, or have any organs, I pocketed the banana peel and turned to Crazy. "I should definitely do something about the bleeding."

" _Check her bag for medical supplies,"_ Oblivion spoke up. " _She should have something for wounds."_

"No, I was just going to leave her for dead," I muttered sarcastically as I rummaged through bag.

"Some nuts, a Green shell, a boomerang. Here!"

Pulling out a Fairy Bottle, I popped it open and let the fairy out. After circling around Crazy a few times and spreading magic sparkles, the fairy popped out of existence and Crazy's head healed.

"She's not waking up," I stated, poking her face a couple of times with my finger. "I guess I should make camp then."

I decided to get busy with that, simple as it was. Remembering the leaves in Crazy's bag, I pulled them out and threw them on the ground. The result was a tent and two log benches around a campfire. Seeing that Crazy wasn't going to wake up soon, I decided to take a nap.

 _I was inside a tent. It was pretty big, big enough to accommodate an enormous table with enough space on the sides for people to walk comfortably. On the table was an unfamiliar map and on it were figurines of all kinds of things. Ships, soldiers, catapults, all things for war._

 _As I watched, a group of soldier figurines clustered on a mountain range crumbled to dust. "Dammit!"_

 _I wasn't the only one there. At one end of the table, a cloaked figure stood. Previously, he was sitting but he knocked over the chair when the figure crumbled. He began muttering to himself, "This is bad."_

 _I opened my mouth to speak, to ask what was happening, why the soldiers crumbling was bad but no voice came out. I couldn't talk._

 _I heard someone behind me open the tent and rush inside. Before I could move out of the way, the person simply passed through as if I'm not here. "I guess I'm a ghost."_

 _The person looked like a messenger, a hood pulled over their head, dressed in military attire and a messenger bag at their side. Kneeling in front of the hooded figure, the messenger announced, "More news from the war front! Squa-!"_

" _Squadron 13 has been decimated. No survivors," The figure interrupted with a wave of his hand. "Any news of what attacked them."_

 _Unfazed by the interruption, the messenger answered immediately, "No sir! The enemy forces in the mountain ranges are unknown. The current possibility are demon squirrels, the Risen or Heartless."_

" _Demon squirrels?" I wondered as the cloaked figure dug around in what looked like a jewelry box before pulling out a figurine of a zombie. He placed it on the mountain range, brushing away the dust from the soldiers._

" _I believe the most likely possibility is the Risen. Please report this to the Hands." The messenger left after hearing this. As soon as the tent flap shut, the cloaked man fixed the chair and collapsed onto it with an enormous sigh. "This is so stressful."_

 _The figure then turned to look directly at me in the eyes. As his eyes glowed a shimmering gold, he asked, "So Nathaniel, can you guess who I am yet?"_

* * *

I woke up, screaming my head off.

"Oh. You're awake," Crazy said, unfazed. She had a bowl of soup in her hands and she handed another bowl to me as I walked to her. We sat in silence, enjoying the soup. Eventually, the silence was broken by Crazy.

"Please stay out of my bag." She bluntly stated.

"In my defense, it was an emergency." I finished the soup and placed the bowl down. "Anyway, what about that whole floating hand thing?"

"I told you it's complicated."

"Please just tell me. The readers need some answers for all the questions that have built up," I pleaded.

In response to the look that Crazy gave me, I elaborated, "I'm just joking about the reader part. There's no readers (cue laughter from the author that slowly deteriorates into crying) but I do have a lot of questions."

"I'll only answer one," Crazy glared. "Then I'm going to sleep."

I took a moment. I could keep pushing on the whole hand thing or ask something else. A question I could ask is to explain to me the whole hand form thingy but she has been really hesitant about it. If I try to force an answer, she'll just skimp out on a full answer, completely wasting this opportunity so I should ask that another time. However, what should I ask then?

"Since you've been staring off into space for the past five minutes," Crazy said, breaking through my thoughts. "I'll ask a question. Why would you want to join the Super Smash Bros. tournament?"

"Huh?" Since I was a bit distracted from thinking of a question, it took a moment to remember what she was talking about. "Oh, you mean that part of our agreement. Well, from how you talked about it, it seemed really amazing."

"That's it?" She definitely seemed underwhelmed by my response so I tried to elaborate further.

"You said how even entering the tournament was a mark of skill right? I could become famous if I entered. Crowds of people chanting, "Nathaniel! Nathaniel! Nathaniel!" It would be glorious."

"What about your memories? You make it seem like you're prioritizing fame over recovering your memories." Crazy pointed out.

"The answer to that," I answered, holding a finger up, "is that I'm going to get my memories back in the process anyway. I join the tournament by defeating Galeem, I defeat Galeem by rescuing all the Smashers and by rescuing all the Smashers, I get my memories back. Easy as pie."

"Let your actions speak instead of your words," Crazy scoffed. "If defeating Galeem is as simple as you make it out to be, I wouldn't need your help. How about that question you were going to ask? I would like to go to sleep soon."

"Oh yeah! How does the whole worlds business work?"

"You see, all mass have a force called gravity which planets exert on each other and-"

"Not that," I interrupted. "You said I came from another world or something to that extent. Explain how that works."

She sighed, as if Crazy hoped I wouldn't ask this. Oh sure, you don't want me asking about you being a giant hand so I try to be polite but you complain regardless. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask a question with a long answer but you did. Buckle up because it might take a while."

She cleared her throat before beginning her tale, " _No one knows when the multiverse began. It had existed for eons upon eons even before Master Core, my and my brother's creator, was a mere thought. How it began was largely debated, rising from the end of a previous multiverse like a phoenix to an even higher being creating the multiverse on a whim. How the multiverse worked, however, was quite clear._

 _The multiverse was divided into worlds. Within each world was a whole universe and within those universes were entire lands of people and more. Worlds would come into existence from nothing while some would fade into that nothing. Sometimes, several worlds would fuse into one or a single world could split into multiple. Regardless of what happened to all those worlds, the multiverse grew as more and more worlds began to be "born."_

 _Soon, a pattern was noticed. There would be worlds like yours, full of people. That in itself was ordinary but it was what those people did that was astonishing. Despite no communications between worlds, those people somehow knew of events that happened in other worlds. They would write those events as fictional stories or ignore them but nonetheless, those people somehow knew of other worlds._

 _It was undetermined if the reason those worlds existed was because those people created them from their thoughts or if the people knew those events because of some effect other worlds had on them. Eventually, those worlds came to be known as Origin Worlds. Your world is one of those._

 _Galeem wants to fuse all of the multiverse into a single world but so far, has been unable to fuse any Origin Worlds into what it has so far. If it does, the results could be catastrophic._ "

I stared blankly at her for several moments, trying to digest all that information. "What you just told me leaves me with more questions!"

Sighing, Crazy rested her face in her hands, "Fine, I'll answer a few more. Just make them quick."

"First, why does it matter if Galeem adds an Origin World to his mishmash collection? Second, why does Galeem want to fuse the worlds together? Finally, how frickin old are you? You don't look older than 20!"

"First, Origin Worlds have never fused or split before, naturally or artificially. While it could be smoothly integrated like how other worlds have, with the possibility of a connection between Origin and regular worlds, the likelihood of consequences are significant. Second, I don't know why Galeem is doing this, ask it yourself before killing it. Third, you don't ask a woman her age." She got into her tent and shut the flap after calling out, "I'm tired of Q&A. Just go to sleep."

Grumbling to myself, I walked over to my sleeping bag and laid there. I couldn't sleep so, at Oblivion's suggestion, I got up to practice my sword skills a bit.

" _Aim your sword a little lower!_ " Oblivion called as I swung, " _If you swing that high, you opponent could dodge by ducking a little. Aim for the body, a head wound is nice and all but the body is where the organs are._ "

He kept making minor corrections like those to how I usually fight. It would take me several tries to fix what Oblivion wanted me to but it was no problem once I did. Throughout the entire practice, I was thinking a little on not only what Crazy told me, but also about the dream I had. Why bother telling her about? I kept making arguments why I should have asked about it and counter-arguments why I shouldn't have.

"The dream isn't relevant for dealing with Galeem."

"First, you hear a voice in your head and now you have random dreams. You might have some mental condition that requires urgent treatment!"

"You shouldn't bother Crazy with your problems."

"Dreams could sometimes be warnings."

"The dream might just go away on its own."

" _Don't extend your arm so much! The enemy could sidestep and use it to pull you off-balance._ " Oblivion said, snapping me from thoughts before I could spiral down into self-doubt. " _Stop worrying about the dream already!_ "

I paused, letting my arms fall to my sides as I sat down to take a break. "Hey Oblivion?"

" _What? If it's about your swordsmanship, you still got quite a long way to go but you've made a good first step to improvement."_

"You're not just a voice in my head, are you?" I heard nothing from him for several moments, as if he seemed to be collecting his own thoughts. Finally, he began to speak.

" _It seems you're a bit genre-savvy, aren't you?"_

"It was kinda obvious," I admitted. "I know nothing about swordsmanship because y'know amnesia, but here I am, taking lessons from a voice in my head. So, what are you?"

A rather long pause followed my question. " _Let's just say that I'm the reason you're here in this world."_

"That's it. I'm getting Crazy to help me deal with your cryptic nonsense."

" _Nonononononono that is a very bad idea. Look, I just can't tell you a lot right now. I lost some of my memory too, but not as much as you. When you get your memory back from rescuing a Smasher, I get some of my lost memories back too. What I do remember isn't stuff you should know now. I'll tell you at a later point but you'll just have to trust me."_

"Alright," I said. "I won't tell Crazy, as long as you can answer a question. Why isn't Crazy a giant floating hand?"

" _What?"_

"Okay then, I'm gonna go get her now then." I began to walk to her tent before Oblivion stopped me.

" _Okay okay, I'll tell you. Just, please don't get her."_ Pausing to sigh a little, Oblivion answered my earlier question. _"All I can say is that the hand form was the result of a curse from a war a long, long time ago. She most likely has broken the curse by this point but she can change into it whenever she wishes. The same would likely apply to her brother, Master Hand, as well."_

"Was that so hard?" I asked, "I'll trust you, for now at least. The moment I don't though, I'm asking Crazy for the brain opener to deal with you."

After hearing a weak sigh of acceptance, I decided to head to my sleeping bag. While I laid there, another question came to mind which I shot at Oblivion. "You said that you were the reason why I'm here. Why is that?"

I heard another mental sigh then Oblivion's response, _"Because of a promise I made a very long time ago."_

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel. Crazy Hand, Oblivion(?)**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Banana Peel**

 **Crazy- Staff, Deku Nutx3, Green Shell, Boomerang**

 **Smashers: Mario, Kirby, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **MG: Hello there! It's not 2019 yet but here's a chapter anyway. I wrote this one a lot faster because I was kinda having fun with the DK fight. There were some nice resolutions for next year in the reviews so I thought we should share ours! Nathaniel, you're first!**

 **Nathaniel: Why do I have to go first! Fine. *pulls out a note card and begins to read it* My resolution for 2019 is not get hurt as much.**

 **Crazy: Press X to doubt folks. Mine is to rescue at least 40 more Smashers.**

 **Oblivion: And my resolution is to be more mysterious!**

 **MG: For 2019, I would like to keep writing more chapters for SWOL! Anyway, before we end the chapter here, there's some stuff to say beforehand.**

 **Nathaniel: Thanks to Artorias132, Lovingh3art, Pikminfan, The Nexus Warrior, TrimusicaDrag00n90 and Zeroprime-000 for favoriting this story!**

 **Crazy: And thank you to Alias8SB, Antex-The Legendary Zoaroark, Oops..exe, TheCrampyGoat, aidanator800, ringenki and sonofneptunem for following.**

 **Oblivion: Finally, major thanks to AkouriHades 2.0, Dylan Ballesteros, Jacob Fairclough, The Toad Soldier and kingjustin1019 for doing both!**

 **MG: Lastly, thanks to those who have reviewed: Lovingh3art, Knight Clarence, Akarenger, Guest, Elysium, and Antex-The Legendary Zoroark!**

 **Everyone: Thank you to everyone reading and happy new year!**


	9. Chapter 9: Clearance Sale in Fights

**Disclaimer: I give up on taking these seriously. How are you doing today? By the way, happy 2019 everyone!**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Clearance Sale in Fights**

"What if I had two Beam Swords?"

Oblivion groaned before responding, " _For the last time Nathan, why would you need another Beam Sword? One works well enough for you."_

"Well, yeah." I admitted, "But imagine how cool it would be if I used two swords at the same time. Actually, why stop there? I should wield four at once."

I was walking with Crazy along the path, trying to kill time. After last night's talk with Crazy, I thought that I should back off a little from talking with her because she didn't seem comfortable about talking the curse that made her into a hand. Therefore, I began to talk to Oblivion, mentally of course. Also, he gives much better reactions.

" _There are several things wrong with that. How would you wield four Beam Swords at once? Wouldn't it have been more logical if you said three swords instead of four? Also, you're not coordinated enough to dual-wield even two swords effectively!"_

"What are you smiling about?"

"Huh?" I looked up. Crazy was walking backwards and was waiting for my response. I was about to tell her but I remembered that she wasn't supposed to know about Oblivion so I told a half-truth. "I was thinking of a joke."

"If it's funny enough to have you splitting your face with a grin for five minutes, then do tell," Crazy said.

"What would happen if I could wield four swords at once?" I asked.

"I don't know. What would happen?" She waited a couple of moments for my response before realization crossed her face. With a disappointed sigh, Crazy did a slow facepalm, "You don't have a punchline. That's not a joke, that's just a really dumb idea."

"What do you mean?" I tilted my head, a bit confused. I thought the idea of me trying to use four swords was funny. Isn't the whole point of a joke to be funny?

"Let me tell you a joke. A guy walks into a bar. He says ow."

My response to her amazing and brilliant joke was summed up into four words. "I don't get it."

"What do you mean?" Crazy asked, astonished, "It's funny because you think he's walking into a place where he can get something to drink but he ran into an actual bar."

"That's still not funny," I remarked. Thankfully, before this cringy conversation could dragged out longer, we got interrupted.

"Autoreticle!" a women shouted as lasers were fired towards us.

I jumped back, dodging them but I felt a slash across my back and I went flying. Turning to face my opponent, a teenager with red hair, blue bandanna, a flaming sword and blue armor and cape.

"Geez! How young is this guy!" I shouted, blocking a sword swing on my own blade.

"Roy's 15," Crazy calmly informed me as she dodged more lasers. The lasers were being fired from a staff that a green-haired woman in a white dress was holding. Strapped to her left arm was what looked like a mirror shield and floating behind the was a glowing circle with lines to the sides.

"Wow, she's pretty," I muttered under my breath. I was answered with a slash to the gut.

" _How about getting less distracted by Palutena and more focusing on Roy,"_ Oblivion suggested. " _Remember what I taught you."_

I tried to remember what Oblivion had taught me but there is a major difference between practice and when you have adrenaline. I decided on a simpler option. Pulling out the Steel Diver, I shot at Roy's feet, breaking his sprint and landing on the ground. Before I could keep attacking, I heard Palutena shout behind me, "Explosive Flame!"

The air in front of me exploded, forcing me away from Roy. I felt something crash into my back and we fell into a massive pile on the ground.

"Ow," Crazy groaned. "How about we switch opponents?"

"Definitely, I would **love** to punch Palutena in the face for that last attack." Untangling myself from Crazy, I rushed at her while dodging more autoreticles. My initial slash was blocked by her shield and she jabbed me in the stomach with her staff. While recovering from her counter, two feathery wings sprouted from her back and slammed together, with me squarely between.

" _Are you just winging this fight?"_ Oblivion remarked as I was sent flying. Aiming carefully, I fired torpedoes at Palutena who responded by throwing up a forcefield. The torpedoes bounced off and went back at me. Dodging, I rushed again at her. " _All you can do is just run at your enemy and swing your sword. Doesn't that get boring?"_

"That's kinda my only option at this point," I muttered, sidestepping another Explosive Flame. "She can reflect my projectiles so I have to get closer."

However, once I was able to get closer, she vanished. Turning to find Palutena, I saw that Crazy defeated Roy with a headshot, making the young swordsman fade into smoke. "Is the battle over? Where's the spirit then?"

Crazy glanced around before her eyes widened, "Behind you!"

I turned just in time to get hit in the face with another autoreticle. Apparently, Palutena can teleport. I screamed, "This is too annoying to deal with! Crazy, please tell me you have something to help."

"I think I do." She dug around in her bag before pulling something out and placing it in my hand. It was one of the nuts I saw in her bag yesterday.

"Do I eat this?" I wondered. How do nuts help us kill Palutena?

Crazy gave an exasperated sigh before explaining, "This is a Deku Nut. It explodes with a big flash when it breaks and that disorients anyone close to it."

"So I don't eat it. Good to know."

 **Item Acquired:**

 **Deku Nut**

Crazy and I shot at Palutena, forcing her to use the Reflect Barrier. Sidestepping the reflected shots, I dashed and threw my sword once I closer. Palutena threw up another barrier which I jumped over and tossed the Deku Nut at her feet.

With a big flash and bang, Palutena was stunned. I kicked her in the back as I landed before swinging to slash at her. However, I only felt air in my hand instead. "Oh, right. I threw my sword."

" _Nathan, behind you!"_ I rolled to the side just in time to dodge a spiked ball shooting through where I was standing previously. Turning, I saw a rather large penguin(?) wearing robes and wielding a giant wooden hammer like Kirby's. Maybe they got the hammers from the same store? " _Focus on King Dedede please."_

I saw my sword a few feet away and began to run towards it, only to be greeted with a hammer to the face. Getting launched through the air, I felt a rainbow aura engulf me. My Final Smash was ready. Crazy called out, "Use your Final Smash to finish these guys!"

"I don't have my sword though!" I called back, ducking under Dedede's hammer and sidestepping an autoreticle. "I kinda need it!"

Crazy blocked Palutena's wing attack with a shield and shot her, point-blank with the staff and kicked her away. "You have a Steel Diver! Use that!"

"So my Final Smash isn't limited to only my Beam Sword?" I thought, looking at the Steel Diver in my hand. "Nice. Let's do this."

Grabbing Dedede by the collar, I spun and threw him at Palutena before aiming at both of them. I shouted, " _Super Shooting: Shark Subs!"_

Switching my target to the ground, I fired four torpedoes. Instead of exploding upon contact, the torpedoes dug into the ground and sped off to where Palutena and King Dedede were standing. Truthfully, I just expected them to just explode. Y'know, like how they have been so far. Instead, a massive shark made of fire erupted from beneath the two, biting onto both of them in midair before exploding. Once the smoke cleared, all that was left was two spirits and a bag of money.

It took me a few moments to register what happened before Crazy threw my Beam Sword at my head. "Ow! Why'd you have to throw it?"

She stared at me while collecting the spirits. "Because I didn't want to walk all the way to where you are. Also, you were kinda spacing out."

"Of course I'm spacing out!" I exclaimed, walking over to where she was. "I just shot a fire shark at people! How do we go from shooting torpedoes to FIRE SHARKS?"

"How am I supposed to know? It's your Final Smash," She responded. We took a break for a while, resting from our injuries. It turns out that Crazy was running low on healing items but we heal naturally at a good rate.

While I was laying on my back, watching the clouds go by, Crazy asked a question. "How did you dodge Dedede's Gordo Throw?"

"What do you mean?" I answered, watching a cloud that reminded me of a horse float by.

"After you stunned Palutena with the Deku Nut," she elaborated. "You dodged the Gordo without even turning your head. I didn't say anything to warn you about the attack."

"Well, you see Crazy," I paused. I couldn't tell her about Oblivion so I lied. "I thought I heard something heavy behind me so I dodged just in case."

"I suppose that makes sense," Crazy responded, seemingly satisfied with my answer. "Break's over, let's go."

After a few moments of complaint, we continued on the path, making it to a peninsula. The path went into a circle on the edge of the peninsula, splitting in some areas to lead to a lake, a gate to a small island, and a store. Instead of going to those places, Crazy and I walked to the middle of the peninsula where a tower sat. It seemed to be made of rock and the sides were like a grill so it could be climbed easily. Next to it, another Smasher Statue sat.

Before I could awaken the statue, Crazy stopped me. "Here, take this."

She handed me the boomerang I saw in her bag yesterday. It wasn't too special, just blue with a white stripe on one end. I responded, "Oh? Um, thank you."

 **Item Acquired:**

 **Boomerang**

Walking up to the statue, I checked the nameplate before activating it:

 **Smasher No. 03**

 **Link**

After the wall was set up around me, Link appeared from where the statue used to be. Somewhat taller than Mario, he had slightly pointy ears and was armed with a sword and shield. He had a strange blue tunic and tan pants but most notably was the quiver of arrows attached to his belt and his bow. I threw the new Boomerang, aiming at his head but he deflected with his shield.

Weren't boomerangs supposed to come back after you throw them? Mine didn't, it just flew to the wall and dropped on the ground. "Oh come on!"

Apparently, Link wanted to show off his skills. Pulling out a boomerang, most likely from his inventory, Link threw it before pulling his bow from his shoulder. Knocking the boomerang away with my sword, I watched it fly back to Link just in time for him to hit me with an arrow. Rolling away from Link, I got on a knee and started shooting torpedoes at Link. All of which were blocked by his shield.

"Why is this reminding me so much of the Palutena fight?" I muttered, mostly to myself, as I ran to fight Link at close-range. He put bow away to draw his sword instead and we began to exchange sword strikes. It seemed to be even, with neither of us able to land a hit on the other but Link was definitely better with a sword. I would be moments away from being slashed and I would throw my whole body out of the way. Meanwhile, Link would just block with his shield when I would swing my sword.

The stalemate ended when we locked our swords together. Even with both hands pushing on my sword, Link held his blade steady. I locked eyes with Link's before getting a brilliant idea. Quickly, I headbutted Link. Hard.

He was sent flying away while I checked my forehead for bruising. Then I shot a few more torpedoes while Link was recovering on the ground. Charging at him, I caught a bomb that Link threw at me but he pulled something that looked like a tablet out. He pressed something on it and the bomb in my hand exploded, launching me away. "So the bombs can be remotely detonated?" I thought.

I rolled to dodge another arrow and felt my hand touch something. Looking down, it was the Boomerang. I picked it up and threw it at Link in one motion. Doing a combat roll to dodge the Boomerang, Link ran at me, blocking more torpedoes with his shield. However, right before he was able to slash at me, the Boomerang came back, hitting the back of Link's head. "Gotcha!"

Uppercutting Link in the jaw while he was stunned from the Boomerang, I launched him off the ground before firing at him while in the air. A Link amiibo dropped to the ground with a bag of money. I fell to the ground, screaming, "Thank god! I thought that fight would take forever!"

"You're welcome," Crazy said, as she walked past. Then, she so kindly threw the amiibo at my head, nearly hitting my eye.

"You almost poked my eye out!" I sat up to point at Crazy. "What would have happened if I lost my eye?"

"Then you would get an eyepatch," she stated. "Simple as that."

Grumbling to myself (though an eyepatch would look cool), I began to check out the Link amiibo, which caused another memory to surface.

* * *

 _A lot of stories about heroes were the same. Bad guy does something bad. Good guy beats up bad guy. Good guy marries the princess. Happy ending for everyone. That's how a lot of stories went when I was younger. Black and white was all a child could see._

" _Nathaniel, are you reading in class again?"_

 _I guiltily held up a book from beneath my desk for my 2nd grade teacher to confiscate. Another fantasy story about heroes and dragons to be returned to the library after school. I loved those kinds of stories, about far away lands, filled with magic and daring heroes. This specific book was about an evil king that ruled the land and a farmer boy sets off to defeat him after finding a magic sword. That day, where I was caught reading in class for the fiftieth time, was different. It was after school and I was entering the library to return the book. Punishment since it took a week before anyone could read the book after it was returned._

" _Are you in trouble again Mr. Nathaniel?" the librarian, Mrs. B, asked. She had one of those long last names that elementary schoolers couldn't remember so we could called her Mrs. B for short. Looking about 60 years old, a lot of students at my school liked her._

" _Yes," I responded, a bit despondent. This was one of the few times where I didn't finish the book before getting caught so Mrs. B was in mock surprise over my sadness._

" _What are you so sad about?"_

" _I couldn't finish," I paused for a moment to pull the book out of my backpack, "this one. Now I have to give it to you."_

" _How about," Mrs. B took the book from me and gave smiled, "I hold onto this and I'll let you borrow it again next week?"_

" _Really really?" I asked in amazement. I didn't know that librarians could hold onto books!_

" _Really really," she held out her hand with the pinkie out. "How about we make it a pinkie promise?"_

 _We did and I turned to leave but I stopped to ask a question, "Why is the king evil?"_

 _Mrs. B was a bit confused from my question, asking, "What do you mean by that?"_

 _I pointed at the book I just gave to her, "In the book, the king is a bad guy. Why is he the bad guy?"_

 _She looked at the book in question before kneeling down to be at eye level with me. "Not everyone is good inside Nathaniel."_

" _But why though? Isn't it better to share? I have to share with my brother and my sister. The king just keeps everything to himself."_

 _Mrs. B sighed from my question, "Because some people would rather be mean to others and be alone than make friends and share things. When that happens, someone who is nice has to tell the bad guy that they're mean. You'll understand that when you're older."_

" _Okay. Bye bye!" I ran out the door and headed home._

* * *

"What was the point of that?" I questioned. Why bother remembering something from when I was 8?"

Crazy snapped from my thoughts, "Nathan! Some assistance would be nice!"

I turned to see Crazy dodging a sword swing from some girl. She wore a tiara atop red hair, a red cape with a red dress and red boots. Admittedly, she would look better if all that red was blue instead. " _Focus on fighting Lucina and not criticizing her fashion sense!"_ Oblivion screamed.

"Oh, right." I shot a couple of torpedoes at her, landing several hits before she turned her attention to me. As Lucina made her way towards me while dodging my shot. I felt for my Beam Sword in my inventory, only to realize it wasn't there and instead about 7 feet away from me. "Shoot! Did I drop it when the bomb exploded?"

I jumped away from Lucina's sword, landing again on the Boomerang. I threw it, knocking into her forehead before returning to my hand. Running at her, I kicked her in the side and threw the Boomerang again. Knocking the Boomerang away, Lucina resumed the charge but got knocked of her feet when I shot at her.

"Let's end this!" I charged after her and grabbed Lucina's collar. Holding her in place, I kept shooting her in the stomach until the fighter crumbled into smoke.

A spirit came out from the smoke and Crazy pulled out the Nintendo Switch to capture it but it flew inside the store. "Get back here!"

I charged inside, only to hear, "Hello! Welcome to Anna's Emporium. Can I help you find anything?"

"What." Behind the counter in front of me was a woman with red hair pulled into a ponytail. She wore mostly red with yellow. I heard Crazy enter behind me with the same stunned reaction that I had.

"Ah, hello Crazy Hand. Here to make another purchase?" The woman greeted Crazy, gesturing to a display counter full of various items. "Maybe you can introduce me to your friend?"

"Neil, this is Anna," Crazy said. "She's a merchant. My brother and I would contact her for some items to use in tournaments."

I nodded before turning to Anna, "Ms. Anna, did you happen to see a floating rainbow ball come in?"

"That was me," Anna said. "Thanks for getting me out of that body by the way. How about I give you a discount for that?"

I turned to Crazy but she gestured that she'll explain it later. With that, I decided to take a look at some of the stuff Anna was selling while Crazy talked to her. There was some bunny hoods, banana guns and what looked like a katana. I felt myself drooling a little as I stared at it. Maybe I could start dual-wielding if I bought it. "Hey, Anna? How much is the sword?"

"The Killing Edge is about 20,000 gold," she answered, turning her attention to me.

"Does that include the discount?" I asked.

Anna just winked and put her finger to her chin, "I was joking about the discount, honey."

I turned to Crazy to ask about how much money we had but she cut me off, "Sorry, I just used most of gold to buy more food. We didn't even have enough to buy the sword beforehand."

We left the store with Anna calling behind us, "Thank you and don't forget to come again!"

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy Hand**

 **Items: Nathaniel-Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Boomerang, Banana Peel**

 **Crazy Hand-Staff, Deku Nut x2, Green Shell**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **MG: *runs by screaming with an enormous pile of books***

 **Nathaniel: What's up with him?**

 **Crazy: He goes back to school on Monday.**

 **Nathaniel: Ah. *turns back to card game with Crazy* I play Exodia The Forbidden One.**

 **Crazy: This is poker.**

 **Nathaniel: So?**

 **Crazy: Fine. I give up. *walks off***

 **Nathaniel: I can't believe my usual tactic of being annoying worked. *looks back at MG* No wonder some of the chapter felt a little rushed.**


	10. Chapter 10: I suck at driving

**Author's Note: Wow, SWOL made it to chapter 10. Admittedly, I thought it would take longer for this to reach chapter 10.**

 **Anyway, we're at 20 followers! Thanks you to snowyangel277, SuperKitty4789, DarkHero762, J-man12, Tuananh Hoang, LNDJV, Defender31415, and ssupersonic12 for following!**

 **Another quick note, things are getting about hectic for me since I have to study for finals. I'm not sure how this will affect updates but I just want you guys to know what's up if there is no new chapters for a while.**

 **Disclaimer: I should probably take these seriously though. I don't own Nintendo, Smash Bros. or any character/franchises represented. I only own the Ocs.**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: I suck at driving**

"Could you tell me now?" I asked Crazy. We left Anna's Emporium a few hours ago and were heading north. At first, we tried going to the big lake but neither of us knew how to drive the boat there. So, here we were, back on the path we were just on.

"Tell you what?" She replied, "The secret to better jokes?"

"How about you tell me that later. I'm talking about the spirit that went into the store," I elaborated. "I could tell that the spirit was probably Anna's but how come she has a body and the other spirits we have don't?"

"I'm actually not sure. The most likely reason is because we were next to her store. Since we were so close to a location she is familiar with. That familiarity would allow her to break free of being in spirit form and go back to her old body," Crazy quickly backpedaled on her hypothesis though. "Granted, it could be for some other reason."

I thought for a moment. How many spirits do we have so far? I'm guessing about 10 if you count the Smashers. That was about 10 people who don't have a body and their own unique lives. They could be scared witless but Crazy and I couldn't tell or have any way to calm them down. "Is there some way we could give the spirits we have right now physical bodies?"

Crazy sighed and I began regretting my question. She might've already asked herself that. "Since we don't know exactly why or how Anna has her body back, we can't do that. In the long run, it might actually be better anyway."

"Really? What do you mean?"

"Being a spirit seems to put people in a kind of stasis," Crazy began to explain. "Anna only vaguely remembers being a spirit and I don't feel any emotions from the spirits we have now. As far as I can tell, leaving them as spirits for now is safe. Besides, if they did have bodies, they wouldn't have anywhere to go. They could be attacked by Puppet Fighters or starve to death due to a lack of resources."

"I guess that makes sense." I raised my head and noticed something. "Speaking of Puppet Fighters, get ready for a fight."

Charging at us were four identical kids, all blond with a strange set of headphones, a black jacket, shorts, a tank on their back filled with some yellow liquid and what looked like a water gun. Crazy swore before pulling out her Staff to start sniping them, "Try not to get covered in ink."

"What?" My question was answered a second later when I got shot. Instead of torpedoes or lasers, the kids shot what I guess was yellow ink from their guns.

Recoiling as some of the ink got in my mouth, I rolled away from the kids while spitting it out of my mouth. Two of them followed me while the others followed Crazy as she retreated. One jumped above me which I knocked away with my Beam Sword when I noticed something. The tank on their back seemed to be lower. "So they shoot the ink in the tanks? That means they run out at some point."

Ink kid 1 threw a something at me, filled with ink and shaped like a glass pyramid, it was probably a bomb. Before I could kick it away, the bomb exploded in a giant splash. So much of the ink exploded, I tried to wipe it of my eyes but I just made it worse. I was completely covered in the ink.

Something grabbed onto my jacket hood before I was thrown away. When I landed, I felt something strike me in the back, sending me flying again and probably towards the ink kid that threw me. Tossing the Boomerang behind me, I threw my foot forward and felt it connect with something. I wiped the ink on my hand off using my pants leg before clearing my eyes, letting my eyes eee again. Chasing after the one I kicked away, I shot using the Steel Diver before swinging with my sword. Ink kid dodged by, turning into a yellow squid.

"Are they kid or a squid?" I questioned, dodging a swing an ink brush and catching the Boomerang. Throwing the Boomerang at the one which attacked me, I followed it with another torpedo. Both projectiles landed a solid hit on the enemy, causing her to collapse into smoke.

Turning to face the second one, I jumped over and grabbed her by the collar. After hitting her with the hilt of my sword, I kicked her into the path of the Boomerang and slashed with the sword as the blade grew.

The spirit floated up from the remains of the one I just defeated. "Crazy, quick question. Why the heck were they shooting ink everywhere?" I asked as the ink on me began to dissolve. Thank goodness for that, I don't have access to a washing machine right now.

"They're Inklings. Their attacks do more damage as their opponent gets covered in more ink," Crazy explained, collecting the spirit. "The first few practice fights with them left stains so we modified the ink to evaporate after fights."

I was about to respond before I was rudely interrupted by what sounded like, engines? We followed the path until we reached what seemed to be a raceway. As soon as we got to the fence, cars flew past us with roaring engines. There was something off about the cars though, "Are they floating?"

"Those are F-Zero machines, meant to race and race at sonic speeds. It's a shame there hasn't been an F-Zero Grand Prix in a while." Crazy explained. The track that the machines were racing on looked like a figure eight and in the middle, was a Smasher Statue. Unlike the ones before, this one was covered in heavy chains, glowing with an otherworldly light. Despite being in the middle of the track, the statue didn't seem to affect the racers as they quickly swerved around it without crashing into each other.

As I watched, the racers completed another circuit at speeds that would turn me into mush if they hit me. "Any thoughts on how to get to the statue without, y'know, getting killed? And what are those chains?"

"Oh, simple," Crazy answered, walking further up the path. "We kill the other racers. The chains are most likely there to stop us from awakening the Smasher until we can defeat the Puppet Fighters."

"Crazy, we can't just go around killing people."

She just stared at me before explaining, "The racers are Puppet Fighters and what do you mean we can't go around killing people? That's what we've been doing already."

I could only follow her quietly as we walked past the fence where a green F-Zero machine sat, ready to be driven. Opening the hatch, we peeked inside. "Do you know how to drive this?"

I turned my head to Crazy, shocked, "What do you mean do I know how to drive this? Amnesiac, remember? Don't you know how to drive this?"

"The last thing I drove was a war chariot. I just teleport everywhere," Crazy flatly said. "Anyway, you're the fighter so you drive."

Before I could argue, Crazy pushed me in and shut the hatch. I grumbled as I put on the seat belt and adjusted the seat I was on. "Oblivion, you there?" I whispered. He knew how to use a sword so, maybe he could give me a crash course to hopefully not crash.

No response. "Oblivion, you better not be ignoring me because you don't know how to drive," I muttered. "Okay, what do we have here?"

There was a wheel in front of me to steer and pedals by my feet. I lightly stepped on the right pedal, feeling the car move forward lightly and stop hard when I stepped on the left pedal.

Stepping on the pedal, I shot off onto the track, almost immediately hitting another racer. I jerked the wheel as we both moved away from each other, only for the racer I almost hit to crash into another machine and they went off course, crashing and burning against the wall.

The racers turned a corner and I pushed a car that was the closest to edge of the track. Successfully, the racer flew off and crashed into a pile of tires. "These cars are floating," I thought as I looked for my next target. "Why would there be tires?"

I swerved again, this time almost hitting the statue. After I managed to right the car, another racer pulled up next to me, a blue car, and the hatch opened. The racer looked like some kid in blue armor and as I watched, his hand retracted into his arm and formed a cannon.

I turned away as he began to shoot what looked like lemons at me, only for another racer to push me back towards Blue Boy. The hatch of this racer opened, revealing some fox guy who pulled out a pistol and began firing lasers at me. I was sandwiched in between the two as they shot at me, thankfully not breaking the glass yet. But they weren't turning. We were approaching another curve and I tried braking but Fox and Blue Boy were carrying me to the wall.

"Why am I getting deja vu?" I muttered. The wall was growing closer and I was about to undo the seat belt, maybe I could jump out before crashing. But at the speed we were going, there was no guarantee that would be entirely safe. My hand brushed against something next to the seat belt holder. Looking down, my hand had hit a lever labeled, "Ejection Lever. Emergencies only."

Yanking on the lever, the hatch opened and my seat shot out like some cartoon. A parachute shot out and I watched the two racers crash into the wall with the empty F-Zero machine I was driving a moment before. Floating down, I began looking for the last racer. The last car had almost made an entire lap and would probably hit me a few seconds after I land in another explosion of guts and gore (I think that would be the fifth explosion this race).

Thanks to the laws of physics, my seat began a descent as I looked through my inventory. My Beam Sword wouldn't help, Steel Diver is a maybe, Deku Nuts are a probable no because of the windshield and Banana Peel is a no because it's a banana peel. "I'm actually surprised it's not rotten," I commented as I pulled it out to check. A thought struck me, maybe the Banana Peel could help. I fought evil as pink puffballs, robots, an ape, and I'm travelling with someone who's a disembodied hand-god.

"Don't be ridiculous," I lectured myself, "There's no way a banana peel could stop a car. And these cars probably have something like anti-gravity technology. This won't stop it." I was interrupted my seat landing softly on ground. I have about 4 seconds before I'm turned to mush.

Tossing the Banana Peel over my shoulder onto the path of the upcoming car, I undid the seatbelt and leapt to the side of the track, only for my arm to get tangled with the seatbelt. My leap turned more into a tumble and I fell flat, unfortunately not off the road. The roaring engine grew louder and I looked. A red and black F-Zero machine flew at me, growing closer and closer, until it flew over the Banana Peel. The car spun out, narrowly missing the chair I was attached to by centimeters and hitting the flaming wreck of Blue Boy and Fox's crash.

"Oh wow, you're alive." I untangled my arm and turned. Crazy was walking over to me with popcorn in her hand.

"You're a jerk."

"I've been called worse. Here," She offered the popcorn to me. "How about about we just make camp and deal with the statue tomorrow?"

I looked up, the sun had already begun setting, painting the sky a blood orange. "That sounds good."

We made camp, with Crazy picking up the spirits from the car wrecks. and after a quick dinner, Crazy ducked into her tent while I walked over to the statue. I wouldn't fight the smasher until tomorrow but it would be nice to who it was.

 **Smasher No. 11**

 **Captain Falcon**

"Great," I muttered. I'm fighting another smasher that I don't know. A yawn in my head broke me from my thoughts.

" _What'd I miss?"_ Oblivion asked through another yawn.

"Oh, just the usual. There were some ink kids and ME ALMOST DYING IN A HORRIBLE CRASH OF METAL AND FIRE!" I mentally screamed.

" _Oh, okay."_

"THAT IS NOT SOMETHING YOU JUST SAY, 'oh, okay' TO!" I sighed, calming down a bit, "What were you up to while I was busy fending for my life anyway?"

" _Sleeping,"_ He replied in a flat tone.

"You're a voice in my head, how the heck do you sleep?" I questioned. "Do you even need sleep?"

" _I haven't always been a voice,"_ Oblivion answered vaguely.

"Wow," I said, drawing it out. "How _**bloody**_ mysterious of you Oblivion."

" _You're sounding pretty stressed,"_ Oblivion commented.

"How about because of this annoying voice in my head that's pretty annoying."

Oblivion went silent for a moment before speaking up again, " _You're also irritated at Crazy for pushing you into the car, aren't you?"_

"Yeah, a little," I admitted.

" _What do you think of Crazy anyway?"_ Oblivion asked, " _I'd be interested in hearing your opinion."_

I took a moment to think. I had literally only known her for days and I still wasn't sure what to think of her. She's been helpful but also somewhat secretive. Her pushing me into the car didn't help improve my opinion but I do feel at ease around her. "I guess that even though she can be a little snarky and keeps things to herself, Crazy is trustworthy."

I waited for a response to no avail. "Oblivion?" I asked. "Oh, sure. Just stop talking to me whenever you want. You just love having me talk aloud to no one but myself and make me look like a weirdo, don't you?"

Walking over to my sleeping bag, I threw myself down and shut my eyes. After a few moments, I fell into another dream.

* * *

 _I was in the same tent as the last dream. The guy in the cloak was there, looking the same as before. However, the tent was different. The table in the middle was slightly smaller and instead of a map, a chess board sat with Cloak Guy on one side. Sitting across from him, was a guy in a business suit._

 _Despite looking about 20, he already had white hair which was slicked back. Something about the way he looked vaguely reminded me of Crazy. Maybe it was the facial structure. Maybe it was the way their eyes pierced you. Maybe it was how they carried themselves, somewhat calculated but also a little aloof. Maybe I was just seeing things._

 _As I watched, the cloaked man flopped back in his chair, tilting it back on the hind legs. "Come on M.H. Why do we have to play chess? It's sooooooooooooo boring."_

 _M.H. just smirked a little at the nickname and complaint, "You just say that because you're terrible at chess."_

" _Exactly!" Cloak Guy shot forward, leaning towards M.H. "Where's the cannons? The ships? The ninjas that seduce and assassinate the opposing commanders? This is nothing like war!"_

" _Calm down a little." M.H. began to reset the board. It seemed like M.H. had a sweeping win the previous game, he had only lost half his pawns and a bishop while the black side only had the king left. "Why don't you use this as a mental exercise?"_

" _I'd rather play cards," Cloak Guy commented, watching as M.H. moved a pawn forward before moving his own._

" _You're a little better at cards but you bluff quite a lot," M.H. said, moving another pawn as he spoke. He punctuated his sentence with a slam of the chess piece, "Unfortunately, when it comes to real lives, you're just as sloppy as when it comes to chess along with your terrible bluffs in cards."_

 _The air became tense as the two began staring each other down. Any moment it seemed like one of them would tackle the other and start hitting them. Even though I couldn't be interacted with, I felt like I should get someone before a murder happened. Fortunately, Cloak Guy just made a resigned sigh, breaking the tension, and asking, "Is this about Squadron 13?"_

" _Yes, this is about Squadron 13!" M.H. yelled, knocking his chair over and slamming a hand on the table, "You took an unnecessary risk and got 50 of our men killed! You could have simply had a scouting party search the area for enemies instead of having armed soldiers trampling through an unknown area. I need to make sure you won't get the rest of us killed."_

 _A pregnant pause followed M.H.'s outburst. With a sigh, Cloak Guy simply hung his head, "This is why I tried to refuse the position of tactician for the army. Trusting me with your lives was a terrible mistake."_

 _Fixing his chair, M.H. sat down. Another silence followed. "I'm sorry for the outburst. It's unfair of me to get angry when I'm the one who pressured you into the role of tactician, but you still got men killed. Why don't you have me check your orders for risks before you send them out?"_

" _That be impossible," Cloak Guy bluntly stated. "There would be no way to have you check orders when you're somewhere else. And think of what the soldiers would see, an inexperienced tactician that could get them all killed. Of course, they could already be seeing that."_

" _That's also why I asked for a council," M.H. said, "Have all the commanders convene and we decide on something together."_

 _Cloak Guy sighed, "Fine. I didn't want it in the first place because I felt like I would end up stabbing someone but, I guess it's better than bumbling in the dark."_

 _Right as they shook hands to make up, someone burst through the tent flap. Looking about the same age as M.H., she had the same white hair as him but cut to neck-length. She stood tall at about 6 feet and dressed in plated, silver armor. Held loosely in her left hand was a lance that was just as tall as she was. Unmistakably, the newcomer was Crazy Hand._

" _Hewwo!" Crazy announced. "Did you two have some sorta special male-to-male moment?"_

" _Don't phrase it like that," M.H. chided. Seeing them side by side, M.H. and Crazy looked almost identical. That might mean they're related. Crazy did call Master Hand brother so is this Master Hand? The initials match up._

 _I think I'll just keep calling him M.H._

" _Yeah, yeah." Crazy replied nonchalantly. "Anyway, dinner's ready so are you two coming or not?"_

" _Go ahead without me," Cloak Guy answered. "I have some business to take care of."_

" _Okay! Just don't tire your hand out too much!" Crazy winked at him and M.H. smacked her head as they left._

 _Sighing, Cloak Guy muttered, "I swear, she'll be the death of me someday."_

 _He walked to the back of the tent and entered a flap there, presumably to some private room. I moved to follow but my feet were stuck. I couldn't move. The ground beneath me began to crack and I fell through, into darkness. The tent and what I had just seen was swiftly swallowed by the darkness, plunging me into black._

 _Somehow, my free fall stopped but I hadn't hit anything. Before me, a single eye slowly opened. The iris was slitted, like a cat's, but the eye was demonic, with blue and yellow instead of white._

" **DO noT BeLiEVe tHat gaLeEM iS yOur oNLy EnEMy,"** _A voice spoke out to me, garbled and it felt like it was coming through static but I understood it._

 _Slowly, I opened my mouth. I had no idea who this was but what it said was clear. I whispered back into the darkness, "Fight me."_

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion (?), Crazy Hand**

 **Items: Nathaniel-Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Boomerang**

 **Crazy Hand-Staff, Deku Nut x2, Green Shell**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Nathaniel: This sucks.**

 **Crazy: What do you mean?**

 **Nathaniel: When MG started Author's Theater, he stated it was an after-chapter place to just fool around. Has he done that? No. He just uses this as basically another spot for Author's Notes but titled differently.**

 **Crazy: Well, he said Chapter 7 would be the last chapter of 2018 and then posted Chapter 8 on New Year's Eve. Maybe we should take what he says with a grain of salt?**

 **Nathaniel: How about no?**

 **MG: MMph mmh mmph mmmph!**

 **Nathaniel: No, I am not untying you or removing the gag.**


	11. Chapter 11: A Pokemon and a Racer

**Author's Note: It's still finals season so that could impact uploads. Well, I guess they're more like midterms now that I think about it.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Nintendo and/or Smash. I only own the Ocs.** **If I did own Nintendo,** **I would have a copy of Smash signed by Masahiro Sakurai.**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: A Pokemon and a Racer...**

"Falcon… _Punch!_ " Unfortunately, a burning fist collided with my face. I was sent falling until I hit the wall and slowly slid down, my body wracked with pain.

"Falcon punch, falcon kick, falcon SHUT UP ALREADY!" I yelled at the muscled fighter before me. Wearing a blue racing suit and yellow bandana around his neck, Captain Falcon had been beating me up for the past 5 minutes. Admittedly, I still distracted by the dream. Did I just challenge some eldritch abomination to a fight? Oblivion had shut up again so I would get no answers on that front.

While I was still distracted by my thoughts, Captain Falcon dashed at me, slamming a knee into my stomach. My back hit the wall when I heard Captain Falcon cry out, "Falcon Kick!"

I rolled to the side, just in time to avoid Captain Falcon's flaming foot. His foot collided with the wall, completely stopping his momentum and I took the opportunity to slash at his side. It was intentionally weak, only budging him slightly, and I jumped at him, kicking Captain Falcon in the helmet.

Rolling away, Captain Falcon rushed back at me with his hand preparing for an uppercut. I shot at him, interrupting his attack and pushing him further back. Shooting a few more torpedoes, I tried to keep pushing him back but Captain Falcon bobbed between the shots until he was right in front of me.

"Falcon…" he began cocking his arm back, building up explosive energy in his fist. I swung at him with my sword but not fast enough, " _Punch!"_

The flaming fist struck me in the chest this time, and I flew back. "Come on Nathaniel!" Crazy called out from the sidelines. "Keep out of his range!"

"It's a bit hard to that when he can dodge my main projectile," I muttered. Reaching into my inventory, I swapped the Steel Diver for the Boomerang. I threw at the captain's head but he caught it and threw it back. Rolling under, I came up and slashed at the captain's midsection. I made contact and began slashing several more times before I launched him.

I rushed at him as he hit the ground, dodging a kick as the smasher jumped back to his feet. I tried slashing at Captain Falcon in the chest again but he threw out a kick before my attack could land. His foot landed on my stomach and I slid back.

"Falcon…" Captain Falcon managed to dash in front of me before I realized and was preparing another punch.

" _Punch!"_ For the third time, a flaming punch flew towards me. I ducked under Captain Falcon's arn, dodging the fist and charging up a slash. I released the attack and it was a direct hit. The smasher before me crumbled into smoke, leaving behind an amiibo of Captain Falcon.

My stomach rumbled as I picked up the amiibo, "Did I really have to fight the smasher first thing in the morning?" I turned to Crazy. Less than 10 minutes ago, Crazy had shaken me awake and while I was still rubbing the sleep from my eyes, she grabbed my hand and activated the statue for me before leaving to let me fight by myself. "I hadn't even had breakfast yet."

"Well, think of breakfast as your reward for rescuing Captain Falcon." She pointed back at camp, "Come get it when you're done with the memory recover thing you do."

I watched her walk back to camp. Sighing, I tried to get Oblivion to answer but he had no response.

"Great." Muttering, I began to ask myself, "Is this what a relationship is like? Just one person trying to talk to the other but they never answer and so-"

" _Hello?"_ Oblivion asked.

"Thank the great potato in the sky!" I thought. "I needed someone to annoy."

" _Exactly what happened in your childhood that caused you to start worshipping potatoes?"_

Ignoring his question in favor of the more pressing issue on my mind, I asked, "Did you see my dream last night?"

" _Same tent, same guy in a cloak and Crazy and Master Hand?"_ Oblivion asked, " _Or are you worried about picking a fight with that eyeball?"_

"Eyeball," I confirmed. "In hindsight, that might not have been my best move. I don't even know who that was but it did seem like they were not friendly."

" _Who knows?"_ Oblivion said. " _Maybe you should just focus on Galeem for now?"_

I paused for a moment, "Hey, Oblivion? Could you listen to all my thoughts?"

" _Only the ones directed at me. Why?"_

"It kinda seems like an invasion of privacy if you could hear everything I think." Ignoring his complaints, I began to think. Why am I even getting these dreams? Why am I even trusting Oblivion so much anyway? For all I know, he could be the demonic eyeball. But that would mean he could have just lied about listening to my thoughts.

"I give up trying to sort this all out." Sighing, I raised the Captain Falcon amiibo at stared at it. Within moments, memories began to well up to the surface of my mind. One rose up in particular and I began to focus on it.

* * *

" _So, you finally got your driver's license?" My sister asked._

" _Yeah. Third time's a charm, I guess." I took another bite of pizza. Our parents were having dinner with friends so they bought us pizza to eat for dinner. Currently, we were lounging in the living room, watching TV. "Now I can make up all those times you had to drive me to school."_

" _Looking forward to getting some more sleep," she said. A commercial began airing, much to our dismay, and my sister gave me an odd look. "I will never understand why you like pineapple on pizza."_

" _Because," I began, "I like how juicy the pineapple is. What I don't get, is why you like olives on your pizza."_

" _I like olives on my pizza because I like olives," my sister shot back. "That's all it is to it."_

 _Our brother came back from getting pizza and we sat in silence, watching a commercial about some kind of duct tape. Finally, it ended and we got back to watching the episode. I got up to get more pizza from the kitchen, but my elbow knocked a glass of water of the table we were using. Thankfully, the glass didn't break but water spilt onto the carpet._

" _Oh great going Nathaniel." My brother commented._

" _Shut up. It was an accident. I'll go get towels." As I left, I heard my brother mock me, "_ Meh. It was an accident. Meeh."

 _I sighed. Half of whenever I talk to him, I either want to tear my brother's throat out or stab him with the closest sharp object. At least (_) is still pleasant to talk to. But it is somewhat embarrassing to have to be driven everywhere by my younger sister. I came back with the towels and we wiped the mess up before continuing to watch our show. When it ended, we decided to head to bed. Unfortunately, my brother had something else in mind, "Hey! How about a game of Magic: The Gathering before bed?"_

" _Sorry," my sister apologized. "Lizzie and I were going to have brunch early tomorrow."_

" _No," I bluntly stated._

" _Oh come on. Please Nathaniel."_

" _No."_

" _Please? It's not like you have anything planned tomorrow."_

" _No."_

" _Please?" He tried giving me puppy eyes but it really doesn't work when it's used by an 18-year old with facial hair. Despite that, I gave in, in part to shut him up and in part to get to bed quicker._

 _We sat down and began a game. After half an hour, it ended in defeat for me. "Come on Nathaniel, you could have done better." My brother began lecturing on what I could have done better or this or that._

" _Yes, I understand." I answered to one of his questions on what I did._

" _Are you getting mad?" He questioned._

" _No."_

" _Really? Because you always end your words with more emphasis when you're mad."_

" _No, I only do that when I'm talking to you," I thought._

" _If you keep getting mad, I'm gonna punch you." He began wiggling his fingers at me._

" _ **No. Just shut up.**_ " _I glared at him._

" _Geez, I was just joking. You don't have to get all that upset about it."_

" _That's it. I'm going to bed." Despite protests from him, I left table went to my room, shutting the door._

* * *

"Nice to know that I have a jerk brother and an okay sister," I commented. "Still kinda bugs me that I don't know their names."

" _There's over 70 smashers,"_ Oblivion said. " _You only have 5. You'll remember their names eventually."_

"I guess," I muttered as I walked back to camp. After eating breakfast with Crazy, we left the racetrack and continued north. We walked on, mostly in silence, as we followed the path. Eventually, I decided to break the ice, "Hey Crazy?"

"What is it Nathan?" She asked.

"Knock knock."

Crazy sighed before giving me a look that said she wanted to punch me. "Who's there?"

"Who."

Without another word, Crazy punched me in the shoulder, hard. "Ow! What was that for?" I rubbed my shoulder tenderly. It definitely felt like it was going to bruise. "All I did was try to make a joke."

"It was a dumpster fire of a joke Nathan. You seriously need better jokes." She held out a gold coin to me. "Here, buy some with this."

"Crazy, that just hurts." I crouched down and covered my face. " _You say some of the meanest things sometimes."_

"Nathan, I'm not gonna fall for it if you start fake crying." Crazy walked back before staring me down. "I am over a few thousand years old. I can see through your cruddy acting."

" _Yeah, you probably can."_ I choked out between sniffles. " _You're just that much better than me at jokes."_

She sighed, "Alright, fine. I'm sorry that I called your joke a dumpster fire and I shouldn't be so hard on your sense of humor."

"Yay!" I shouted, jumping up. Immediately, Crazy decked me again, this time in the face, and I fell to the ground in a pile of pain as she walked off. "Fudge balls!"

"Come on Nathan!" Crazy called to me, "We need to make some progress today!"

"Alright, alright." As I got up, I heard a familiar sound behind me. "An engine?" I wondered, "It sounds a bit different though."

I turned to see a motorcycle charging at me. Rolling aside, I yelled out a warning to Crazy before shooting at the rider, knocking him off. As the rider got up, brushing the dust from his fall off, I was able to get a better look at him. He was shorter but looked sorta fat as well with a pointed nose. Wearing biker gear, his most prominent feature was a zig-zagged mustache on his upper lip. In short, he looked like some sort of gremlin Mario.

Gremlin Mario ran back towards his bike but I fired a torpedo at it, making it blow up in his face. He changed directions to me and I shot another torpedo at him. Braking, he opened his mouth, and ate the torpedo. "Oh goody, another enemy that can make my projectiles USELESS!"

I swapped the Steel Diver for my Boomerang and threw it at him before dashing. Truthfully, I don't know what I expected but Gremlin Mario opened his mouth and chomped down on my Boomerang, chewing for a few seconds. During those seconds, my foot slammed into his right eye and he was launched away. Before he flew too far, he was hit back towards me by Crazy shooting at him. I slashed at him, knocking him to the side as I regrouped with Crazy. "I really hope you didn't expect me to give that Boomerang back."

She turned to me, "Why exactly are you asking that now?"

Kicking at the ground a bit, I muttered, "He ate it."

Shaking her head at my foolishness, Crazy only said, "Let's just focus on Wario for now, and watch out for his farts."

"Farts? You didn't say something like darts and I just misheard you, right?" I asked as she jumped away. A second later, I got hit by Wario's bike.

I hit the ground and rolled for a bit before stopping. Looking up, Wario was on his bike again, making peace signs. I heard a Crazy's Staff firing and Wario was knocked off again. "So he can respawn the bike?" I thought as I pulled myself up, "Great, just another thing to deal with."

I ran towards Wario, aiming to combo him with my Beam Sword when he waddled over to his bike. I stopped, if he tried ramming me with the bike again, I was prepared to counter. Instead of getting on the bike like before, Wario opened his mouth, _and ate the bike._

"Crazy! He ate the bike!" I screamed.

"Why does that matter?"

"Oh yeah," I muttered as Wario charged me. I sidestepped and slashed his side. Wario landed on his feet afterward, only for a torpedo to blow up in his face. I kept shooting at him and after the first couple exploded, he began to make his way towards me, dodging my shots. Wario jumped over me when I swung at him again and grabbed me by the hood. After a few jabs to my stomach, he threw me back.

Before he could keep attacking, Crazy began shooting at Wario. Leaping back onto my feet, I charged a my sword to the max and swung, aiming for the head. The attack connected and Wario crumbled into smoke, leaving a spirit to wander about. "Hey, where's my Boomerang?" I questioned. "Shouldn't it have been in his stomach?"

"That's not how the move works," Crazy said as she walked past. Pulling out the Switch, began the process of recovering the spirit. "Wario's Chomp destroys the item. It's not like Villager's Pocket where the item can be brought out and used again."

"In other words," I slowly said, as her words sank into my mind. "There's no Boomerang."

"There is no Boomerang."

"Perfect." We walked north a bit more before stopping. The path became a crossroads, going east and west as well as north. To the west, a gate sat shut, probably to a town, and to the east was a bridge, spanning a chasm.

I opened my mouth, intending to ask Crazy which way we should go, when the choice was made for us. The ground began rumbling, not enough to make us fall over, but enough for me to almost lose my balance. As the ground shook, a light began glowing from the chasm and kept growing until, the ground stopped and the light covered the bridge. Within a half a minute, the bridge was blocked, with the light acting as a wall.

"Well," I began, "I guess we can't go that way anymore. C'mon Crazy, unless you have a really big ladder so we could jump the gate, it kinda looks like we keep going north!"

Instead, Crazy just stood there and stared at the wall of light, "Hey Nathaniel? A quick rhetorical question but what do you do when you don't want people to do something?"

"Murder them?"

After a very concerned look, Crazy admitted, "I guess that would technically work but I was referring more to what just happened. Galeem probably didn't want us going this way so keep this spot in mind, we will be going this way at some point."

We continued following the path north after that short moment when we hit another bloody crossroad. The path we were on intersected with a stone bridge that ran from west to east. This time, we couldn't keep going because someone had the bright idea to place a statue right in the middle. "Wait, it's a Smasher Statue."

"Stop stalling and get to it already!" Crazy called out as she sat down.

"Hurry up and fight it," I complained under my breath, "Why don't you fight whoever it is then?" I checked the nameplate on the statue:

 **Smasher No. 41**

 **Lucario**

"Uh, Crazy. Do you mind telling who Lucario is?"

"Lucario is the Aura Pokemon. As he takes more damage, his aura increases as well as his damage output," she explained. "But he is a glass cannon to balance it out so just try to avoid getting hit late in the fight."

I moved to activate the statue before a question popped into my head, "Quick question: what's aura?"

"Aura? It's this life energy that everything gives off. The ground, plants, people, they all give this energy off. I heard Lucario mention that everyone has their own unique aura but I don't know much. Master Hand was more into mysticism and magic."

I shrugged at this at tapped on nameplate, readying my Beam Sword in my right hand and and my Steel Diver in my left. Once the walls went up, a blue dog(?) jackal(?) on two legs with a spike in it's chest stood before me. We ran towards each and I got the first hit, swinging the Beam Sword as soon as it could reach him. As he flew away, the blue flames around his hands seemed to burn stronger and grow a bit. I'm guessing that was Lucario's aura.

I shot a torpedo and followed it, charging at Lucario. The pokemon sidestepped the torpedo, only to get caught when I grabbed him by the neck. Striking a few time with the pommel of my sword, he managed to wiggle out of my grip and kicked me away. At the same moment when his foot hit me, I shot at his chest, knocking him away as well. Rolling to my feet, Lucario was holding a blue ball, made of the same aura that was around his fists, and it kept growing.

When it got to the same size as him, Lucario stopped charging the ball and ran at me, the ball dissipating into his fists. I swung when he got into my range, but Lucario merely ducked to dodge the attack. Grabbing me by the collar with one hand, Lucario drove his other into my stomach, releasing a massive burst of aura at the moment of impact. The attack launched me but Lucario jumped up and shot the ball he was previously charged. It exploded in a blue, fiery explosion and I was launched into the wall.

I slid to the ground before getting a familiar feeling. My Final Smash was ready. Pocketing my Steel Diver, I prepared my Beam Sword as Lucario began running towards me. " _Brave Blade Big Buster!"_

The Beam Sword grew to a massive size and I swung at Lucario. I felt the attack make contact on the Pokemon and the blade shrunk to its normal size. "Is that it? Did I get him?"

My question was answered with another blue ball being shot at my face. I got hurled into the wall again as I watched Lucario walk out of the smoke and dust from my Final Smash. Like everything, there was a pro and a con to this. The pro is that my Final Smash did, in fact hit Lucario. The con is that it was Lucario that my Final Smash hit and now I was in fear for my life.

Lucario seemed to disappear for a second before I felt something grab my back. Driving his hand into me again, Lucario did another burst of aura. If the previous one was a hand grenade, this attack was a warhead.

I got launched again, eventually sliding against the ground as I slowed to a stop. I started shooting at Lucario as he ran he jumped over all of them and landed behind. Dodging a kick, I jumped to my feet and swung at him. Lucario ducked again, aiming for my stomach with another palm strike but I shot at the ground between us, the resulting explosion hitting both of us.

However, I was the only to get blown away. Lucario instead crumbled to the ground and dissipated into smoke, leaving behind another amiibo. I layed on the ground for a few moments, waiting for my body to stopping being in pain. "Crazy, why does it feel like my body's fire?"

"Because with each attack, Lucario is literally driving his aura into your body, dealing damage to your organs." She explained, grabbing the amiibo and walking over to me. Looking down at me, she dropped it onto my chest. "You could take a break tonight. Hurry with your memory so we could go."

Picking up Lucario's amiibo, I began to remember a particular event.

* * *

" _Po-ke-mon! Po-ke-mon! Po-ke-mon!" My brother and I chanted, watching our sister, (_) mash the down and B button at the same time. It was a weird ritual that we came up with. When one sibling was trying to catch a Pokemon, if the other siblings are in the room, the sibling playing has to press those two buttons while the other two starts chanting. We almost got kicked out of restaurant before because of this._

 _Unfortunately, getting kicked out of a restaurant was nothing compared to what was happening that moment. My sister shook me awake five minutes ago and she interrupted (_)'s basketball practice to do the chant. We sat together in the living room, watching her screen._

 _I was 6 years old, my brother was 8, and my sister was 5. Two months ago, my sister finally got her own DS for her birthday as well as Pokemon: Diamond. My brother and I had our own DS and we let her take turns playing our games but since she got her own, (_) has been playing it constantly, leading us to now._

 _Apparently, this was her third attempt at trying to catch the Pokemon, leading to her resorting to the ritual. I was a still a bit sleepy so I wasn't paying attention to what my sister was trying to catch._

" _Po-ke-mon! Po-ke-mon! Po-ke-mon!" We kept chanting as the Ultra Ball shook once._

" _Po-ke-mon! Po-ke-mon!" The ball shook again._

" _Po-ke-mon!" Shaking one final time, stars flew out, signaling the capture's success. We cheered. The Pokemon was revealed, asking if she wanted to give him a nickname._

" _I think he should be Billy," she said, inputting the nickname for the Bidoof._

" _Why'd you wake me up for a Bidoof?" I asked her._

 _She showed me the Bidoof, "Because he's shiny."_

" _Oh." I kept watching her play as my brother went back to practice. After a minute of her walking around, she stopped as a text box popped up._

" _Oh?" the text box asked. An egg popped up onto screen, shaking a bit. The egg started to crack and glow, eventually revealing a new Pokemon._

 _It was a Riolu. My sister squeed, "He's adorable, like Neko!"_

* * *

I sat, pocketing the amiibo. Sighing, I muttered, "So, I remember Billy but not their names. And what the heck is a neko?"

"C'mon," Crazy said, pulling me from my thoughts, "We could still make some more progress to-" She got cut off by a fireball streaking across the sky. It headed north and disappeared into a dark castle north of us, shaking the ground and knocking both of us to our feet.

There was a moment of silence before I spoke, "Are we going to investigate that castle?"

She leapt to her feet and took off. "Yes! Now come on!"

"At least wait for me to make a comeback before running off," I muttered before chasing after her.

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion (?), Crazy Hand**

 **Items: Nathaniel-Beam Sword, Steel Diver**

 **Crazy Hand-Staff, Deku Nutx2, Green Shell**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Captain Falcon, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Nathaniel: Something feels off.**

 **MG: *sips tea* What do you mean?**

 **Nathaniel: *walking around* I'm not sure. Something just... doesn't feel right.**

 **Nathaniel: *falls off stage* AAAAHHHh. HOW LONG HAS THERE BEEN A STAGE HERE?**

 **MG: What are you talking about? We've always been on a stage.**

 **Crazy: Hey guys, what's up? *trips on the stage***

 **Nathaniel: What do you mean there's always been a stage? There has never been a stage!**

 **MG: The stage just wasn't mentioned, I mean, this is Author's Theater. What do you think we have been standing on?**

 **Nathaniel: *starts pacing* I can't take this. I don't even know my surrounding until- *stubs pinky toe on coffee table* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**

 **MG: You seem fine so I'll take my leave. *walks over to side curtain and begins to wrap self in them until he is no longer visible***

 ***Crazy and Nathaniel are left alone on stage. Crazy laying face-first on the ground while Nathaniel clutches his toe and rolls on the ground screaming.***


	12. Chapter 12:Go into a Big, Scary Castle

**Author's Note: Sorry everyone but this week's chapter is more like filler. Less than 2000 words which seems rather disappointing after last week's.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Nintendo and/or Super Smash Bros. You know why.**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: ...Go into a Big, Dark Castle**

"Crazy," I panted out,"Could we please take a break for 5 minutes? Or maybe 10? How about until my legs stop hurting?"

She turned to look at me straggling behind before sighing, "Fine, 5-minute break. How are you out of breath already?"

"We've been running for an hour!"

"So?" I collapsed on the ground from exhaustion, taking my jacket off as well. Waiting for my breathing to normalize, I took a moment to look at Crazy. She wasn't even out of breath. Instead, she kept pacing and looking at the castle we've been running to.

Tilting my head, I pestered her, "Why do we even want to check out the castle? I mean, there was that giant fireball but is investigating it extremely important?"

"Yes it is." She stopped pacing to glare at me, "If Galeem shot that fireball as an attack on someone, that means people we can team up with. If the fireball was actually someway to transport a fighter, that means we could awaken more Smashers. Besides, we were going to check everywhere for Smasher Statues so the castle seems like a good place to start."

"Yes, the castle with a giant fireball seems like a good place to start, not like Galeem could just shoot another fireball at it and bring the whole thing down on us."

"If you can sass me, you have enough energy to start running again," Crazy told me. She walked over and helped me to my feet. She turned back to the direction of the castle, only to get blasted in the face with water.

I jumped back as Crazy got knocked to the ground. The one who blasted the water was Squirtle, a blue turtle Pokemon. The odd thing is that it looked bigger than it normally does in the cartoon. Man, how is Ash still 10 after all these years?

"I should stop getting sidetracked," I said as Squirtle withdrew into its shell and launching itself at me while spinning. I jumped over the turtle and slashed. Sadly, the blade bounced off Squirtle's shell as the turtle spun away. "Great, I just have to attack it when it's out of the shell."

I landed and spun, facing the turtle and shooting at it with the Steel Diver. The turtle slid to a stop and popped out of the shell before the torpedo made contact, launching it away. I chased after the turtle, landing a solid hit with my Beam Sword which knocked the turtle away again. While it flew threw the air, Squirtle righted itself and withdrew into its shell, shooting away from me on a path of water and, towards the castle.

"Hey, wait!" I cried out as Squirtle sped chase, I started running and Crazy fell in next to me.

"Just because you say stop doesn't mean that he'll stop. You do know that, right?" Crazy questioned me.

"Shush and run."

We continued chasing after Squirtle which gave me some time to think. Unfortunately, all I could think was, "Potato" before getting hit with a fireball.

"Hot! Hot hot hot!" I quickly patted out the fire starting on my shirt before turning to what shot the fireball. It was a dragon. A weird-looking, scaly, green, bipedal dragon with very sharp looking claws and tail. "I don't think that's a Pokemon."

Green Dragon flew along the ground, grabbing me by the and then dragging me along the ground. Crazy shot several times at its back before the dragon threw me into the air. I tried to right myself before I felt something push me in the back. Most likely Squirtle's Water Gun, it pushed me back to the dragon. I landed and tried to attack with my sword but something stabbed me in the chest. I looked down as it pulled out, it was the blade at the end of the dragon's tail.

I fell to my knees, paralyzed, as the dragon prepared another strike with its claws. A sudden pain stabbed me in the leg, knocking me back but not enough to avoid the attack. The dragon tried to slash me and I realized that I could move again. I brought my sword up as the clawed hand came at me. It stopped and I kicked the dragon in the chest and rolled away.

Crazy came up next to me, handing me a sandwich and viewed my handiwork. "Heal up. Ridley won't fall for that again."

Ridley had impaled his hand on my sword when he tried using his claw on me. The blade was stabbed into his palm, with only the handle sticking out. Grabbing it, Ridley yanked the sword from his hand, before charging at us again. Crazy and I both shot at it, Ridley getting hit Crazy's shot but he sidestepped mine.

From behind Ridley, a shell passed between his legs and shot towards us. I decided to use Squirtle to our advantage. Readying myself, I ran at Squirtle and kicked the shell. The turtle changed direction and flew into Ridley's face.

The dragon flinched from the hit and Squirtle dropped next to it, landing on his back. I ran up and grabbed my sword from Ridley, slashing him away and kicking Squirtle after him. They collided mid-air and I hit both of them with my sword after a quick jump.

Crashing to the ground, Ridley recovered quicker and flew at me, an arm stretched out to grab me again. I sidestepped the charge and did several cuts to Ridley's wings. Unfortunately, they didn't do much as the dragon continued charging. It slid to a halt and shot a fireball at me.

I leapt back but I felt something hit me back towards the fireball. The fireball didn't do much besides push me back to Squirtle. I stuck me foot out and pivoted, landing a strong hit on Squirtle, launching the turtle. Before he flew out too far, I reached out and grabbed Squirtle by the tail. I spun a few times before releasing my grip, throwing the Pokemon at Ridley for the third time.

Ridley was blown away from Squirtle's new job as my projectile but the turtle burst apart into smoke, releasing a new spirit. I moved next to Crazy as she began to shoot at Ridley. "One down. Let's finish Ridley off already!"

She just gave me a dry look. "You should be happy this wasn't a broadcasted match. P.A.C.T.O.P. would've completely torn you apart online for that move."

"P.A.C.T.O.P.?" I questioned, shooting a torpedo at Ridley. It hit squarely on Ridley's face, exploding and blasting him away.

"People Against the Cruel Treatment Of Pokemon," she rolled her eyes. "We would always get complaints from them about having Pokemon in the tournament despite all of them voluntarily agreeing to be there. Also, they could really pick a name that flows off the tongue better."

I opened my mouth to respond, when Ridley grabbed me and started dragging me along the ground. I struggled, trying to tear Ridley's hand from my collar without much success. Reversing my grip on my sword, I aimed carefully, bringing the blade up before plunging it into Ridley's left eye.

Ridley roared, flinging me aside. I hit the ground, covering my ears. My eardrums felt like they would explode until the roar abruptly cut off. I looked up to see another spirit, floating around my Beam Sword and a new weapon, a scythe. It was about as tall as I was, looking as if it was made of some kind of bone. I picked up my sword before gazing at it. "So, what's this?"

"That's a new item we added," Crazy replied as she began to put the two spirits away, "Death's Scythe. Ridley dropped it."

I whipped my head around when I heard the item's name. "Does that mean it could kill people in one hit?"

"Only when the enemy is badly damaged," she answered. Crazy turned and saw me sulking, "Don't get all sad about that. It will still help us finish fights a lot faster."

"Yeah, yeah," I said, reaching out to grab the scythe. I gripped the handle and watched a purple aura encase the blade. I did a practice swing, almost losing my grip.

 **Item Acquired:  
** **Death's Scythe**

" _You'll have a better time using that if you held it with both hands,"_ Oblivion commented.

I did as Oblivion said, doing a few more practice swings as he gave advice. After a few moments of practice, I pocketed and looked up the castle. "So we're going in now?"

"Yep," Crazy answered. She turned to me asked, "Nathaniel, where's your jacket?"

I looked down and sighed, "Give me a minute to grab it, then we can go in the scary castle."

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy Hand**

 **Items: Nathaniel-Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Death's Scythe**

 **Crazy Hand- Staff, Deku Nuts x2, Green Shell**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Captain Falcon, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Yeah, there's no Author's Theater this week either. This week is just disappointment for SWOL. Anyway, I've kinda want to ask you guys, the readers, a question.**

 **Should I change Saving the World of Light's description?**

 **I feel that the current one doesn't really describe the story well and is more about me complaining. I wrote a new one up already:**

It all played out the same. Galeem attacked the Smashers. The Smashers futilely fought back. Except for one difference. Kirby, and with him all hope is now gone. Now, Nathaniel, an amnesiac teenager must now journey to fight Galeem. On his journey, he'll be joined by others and recover his memories. Review if you feel like it.

 **Just let me know what you guys think in the review if you want and we'll see what happens.**


	13. Chapter 13: A Challenger Approaches!

**Author's Note: Midterms are over. This might be the longest chapter yet.**

 **We're at 20 favorites now! Thank you to Pikminfan, Thanatos 2018, xxsugarxxfitxx, and Jerpx for favoriting SWOL!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't Nintendo and/or Smash Bros. I only own the OCs.**

* * *

 **Chapter 13: A Challenger Approaches!**

 **New Area:  
Molten Fortress**

"Too easy!" I shouted. I hooked the scythe blade around the legs of a muscled man with a chain and a headband, then pulled. He fell onto his back and I stomped on him before kicking him to the edge. Rolling to his feet, he pulled his arm with the chain back but I moved faster than he did. Before the man could whip the chain at me, I dashed forward and jabbed him in the stomach with my scythe, pushing him off the edge. Muscle Guy tried to use his chain to grab the edge as he fell.

"Not this time!" I shouted. Swapping my scythe out for the Steel Diver, I shot at him. The torpedoes hit him dead on, knocking him farther away from the ledge. He fell, and sank into the lava. Did I mention the lava before?

There was lava everywhere in the castle (I guess it's more like a fortress). Currently, Crazy and I were on one of several stone platforms that stood like islands in the lava sea. We had entered a while ago and this was about the fifth fight with Puppet Fighters that we had.

I turned to check on how Crazy was doing. Like always, she finished her fight faster than me and was already capturing the spirit she fought. She turned to me, "I see that you finished Richter, by pushing him into the lava. Again."

"Can you blame me?" I said, watching a spirit float out of the lava and come to us. "The lava makes it ridiculously easy to get kills."

"For all we knew, the lava could have destroyed the spirit," Crazy pointed out as she began to capture the other spirit.

"But it didn't."

Once the spirit was captured, we began to follow the path forward. A thought popped into my mind as we crossed a bridge to another island. "Where does all this lava come from?"

"Maybe there was a sale at Villain Mart," Crazy joked. "But in all likelihood, this might just be connected to an underground reservoir of magma. Make some holes and use some magic, you could make it rise to form this ocean."

"Well, regardless of how it was made, all this lava makes the place too hot," I said, trying to cool myself down. As I did, something caught my eye. I ran over to a green pipe, sticking out perpendicular to the ground. "Hey Crazy! What's this?"

"That would be a warp pipe," She explained. "You jump in and -what are you doing!"

I looked over at her with one leg already in the pipe. "You said jump in."

"What if I said you jump and have all your skin horribly removed? You should wait until I finish."

"I don't see why you're so worried about this." I said, removing my foot.

"What happens if we get split up?" She poked me in the chest. "Having to fight Puppet Fighters by yourself doesn't sound fun, does it?"

"I get it but can we go in now?" After Crazy nodded, we jumped into the warp pipe. My vision went dark before a light appeared in front of me. I jumped into it and came out of the pipe. Glancing around, it looked like we went to a different island. The new island was a bit smaller, with us on a larger circular platform that was connected to a smaller one by a bridge. Said bridge was being guarded by a sleeping dog with two heads.

"Orthrus?" I asked. On further inspection, the dog did not actually have two heads. It just looked like an average brown dog. I couldn't tell what breed though. The second head came from a duck that was sleeping on its back. I turned to Crazy, "Is that just a random dog and duck or is the dog a Puppet Fighter?"

"The dog and duck make up a Smasher. We just refer to both of them as Duck Hunt." Crazy pointed her Staff at them. "Get ready to fight."

I pulled out my Beam Sword in one hand and the Steel Diver in the other. On the count of three, Crazy and I shot at Duck Hunt. Both of our shots hit them and the dog and duck went flying. Grabbing onto the dog, the duck flapped its wings and righted the pair as they landed on the bridge.

The dog spun, pulling out a frisbee with its mouth and threw it. I ran towards Duck Hunt, hitting the frisbee away. However, as soon as the blade touched the frisbee, the disc burst apart and I was flung back. I jumped to my feet, running back at the duo.

The dog pulled another object out, a red can. It kicked the can at me. I brought the Steel Diver up, shooting at the can when something happened. A reticle appeared on the can and it jumped over my torpedo. More reticles showed on the can, each one knocking the can further and further up in the air until they let it drop. The can landed at my feet, blowing up.

I was knocked off my feet again, landing on my back, and I slid across the ground. My slide was finally stopped by Crazy. She quipped, "You're not having the best of luck with this, are you?"

Before I could retort, I was interrupted by a frisbee landing on my face. A reticle appeared on it and it shattered with a gunshot. "Ow!"

"Yeah, Duck Hunt is a bit tricky to fight if you don't know what you're doing."

I jumped to my feet, "Well, I think I know what I'm doing now! Sorta."

I ran back at Duck Hunt, shooting another can and ducking under a frisbee as I approached. I slashed at the pair, knocking them back before they dashed to me. The duck pecked me in the leg several times but I knocked them away with another slash.

"Duck!" I did so and a bullet flew threw the air, striking Duck Hunt. I turned, seeing Crazy do a cowboy spin with her Staff.

"Show-off," I muttered before focusing again on the fight at hand. Duck Hunt decided to not be a camper and began to run at me. I put the Steel Diver away and tossed my Beam Sword at Duck Hunt. It bounced off the dog's head, halting them for a moment, and I dashed forward, Death's Scythe in hand. A dark purple aura surrounded Duck Hunt and I swung the scythe at them. The blade made contact and they disintegrated into smoke.

"So that's the insta-kill feature," I wondered as I went to go pick up my sword.

"Nathan, why do you keep throwing your sword?" Crazy went to collect the spirit and gold that the spirit dropped. "One day it's going to fall into lava or something and get destroyed."

"I throw it because it's unexpected," I explained. "I threw it this time because I need both hands to use the scythe. It feels too awkward if I use one hand. The sword stopped Duck Hunt long enough for me to use it."

"I guess it's nice to see that you have the skeleton of a plan." Crazy walked past me, "Let's see what on the other end of the bridge."

We crossed to the smaller island and found a switch. I stepped on it, causing blocks to appear and connect the island we were on to several others. We moved along, to a surprising lack of Puppet Fighters. I found another switch that brought more block bridges into existence, reaching the final island.

"Nathaniel, I am getting a very bad feeling from this." Crazy said, as we walked off the bridge. We crossed onto a rather plush velvet carpet that ran up stairs to a higher level of the island. Torches were set to the sides like some kind of flaming rail guard in case we fell into lava. Crazy pulled out her Staff, preparing to fight at anytime.

The lack of Puppet Fighters on the island meant one of two things: we had killed all of them in the first 10 minutes of entering the fortress or, there was something else here that made the presence of more fighters unnecessary. The tension we felt in the air was so thick, you cou-

" _Will you stop that driveling monologue? It's pretty boring after listening to it for 10 minutes."_

I let out a scream before clamping my hands over my mouth and Crazy shot me a glare. I thought to Oblivion, "By the name of grilled cheese, you scared the daylights out of me! And how are you hearing my thoughts? You said that you can only hear the ones directed at you!"

" _Well, I can eavesdrop. But only on surface-level thoughts! That's just it."_ Oblivion responded. " _By the way, check out that island to your right."_

"Hey! Crazy!" I started slapping her on the arm to get her attention. "Look! Look! Another Smasher Statue!"

"Stop hitting me!" she hissed. Crazy turned her head to the island that Oblivion had pointed out. On it, sat another Smasher Statue. "Oh. Well, let's get to it then."

"Shoot, more back-tracking."

We went back to the first island in the castle before making our way to the one with the statue on it. We hit another switch to make a bridge of blocks to connect to the island and I ran across, eager to see who's next. I was greeted with a lightning bolt to the face.

I flinched before scanning for who shot it. A white-haired man with a black cloak, wielding a sword in one hand and a book in the other stood before me. He dropped the sword and flipped through his book, the sword levitating at his side. I sidestepped a fireball he threw out. The fireball passed me and hit the bridge, bursting into a pillar of flames.

Crazy shouted from behind the pillar, "You're fighting Robin! Just keep pressuring him!"

"Come on Robin, let me hit you," I said, pulling out my Beam Sword and slashing him away with it. "All of the cool fighters are doing it."

" _What in God's name are you doing?"_ Oblivion questioned as I duck under another lightning bolt. The flame pillar blocking Crazy had died down so she ran onto the island, shooting at Robin as he jumped away.

"Peer pressure," I explained as I shot at Robin while he was in midair with the Steel Diver. The torpedo hit him head-on and he was flung into the lava. Before he sank into it, Robin flipped through his book before shooting a gust of wind down, pushing back onto the platform.

" _You're a moron."_

I jumped over a fireball and swung at Robin again. We locked the blades together. Robin let his book float and put both hands on his sword, trying to overpower me. I decided on a different approach. Reaching over, I shoved the Steel Diver into his chest and fired.

The explosion blasted him away and I followed quickly, grabbing onto his collar. I spun on one foot and kicked Robin towards the edge. Crazy fired at him, knocking him into the lava. I ran to the edge and fired at Robin before he was able to use his magic, forcing him to sink into the lava.

"Yay for lava being an easy kill," I said.

I walked to check the Smasher Statue but Crazy stopped me. "Nathan, you knocked Robin into the lava, right?"

"Yes? Why?" She pointed to the spot where Robin fell in. The patch of lava in question was bubbling softly. "Oh come on! How do you survive lava?"

"Bowser does it all the time," Crazy commented. The lava began to bubble quicker and quicker until they suddenly stopped. I took a few steps away from the ledge and pulled Crazy back as well.

A giant shadow shot out of the lava and landed behind us. Dripping in swiftly cooling lava, the creature let out a ferocious roar, blowing the lava off its body. With a hideous maw and wicked talons, I recognized the new fighter before us.

"Oh, it's just Ridley again. I was actually scared for a moment there." I sighed. "I thought we wouldn't get any repeats for a while but this is fine."

"But you already fought Mario twice though," Crazy pointed out. I ignored her and ran towards the new Ridley. This one was a purple instead of green but was the same size as the one I fought outside the castle. Ridley tried to fly at me, his arm outstretched but I jumped over and swung at his back. The momentum from Ridley's charge ended the same moment I landed, and I did a short hop towards Ridley, stabbing the blade of my Beam Sword into his foot.

Roaring in pain, Ridley swiped at me with a claw. I withdrew my sword from Ridley's foot and hopped outside of Ridley's reach. Countering, I struck at Ridley's shoulder before rolling out of the way. The counter wasn't enough to launch Ridley but Crazy fired at Ridley several times which was enough to.

I fired at the dragon while he was in midair but he righted himself using his wings and dodged the torpedoes I shot. Ridley began to gather a breath as he fell and began to shoot a series of fireballs at Crazy and I when he landed. I got hit by a few but was able to put out the fire that spread to my clothes while Crazy dodged all of them. The dragon dashed towards me but I jumped over him again. I landed behind Ridley but I was launched off my feet by a slash across my back.

Rolling to my feet once I hit the ground, a shadow loomed over me. I yelped and looked up to find Ridley standing over me, a claw outstretched to tear me apart. I raised my arms to block but Ridley flinched once I heard Crazy's Staff ring out. I stabbed with my sword while Ridley stopped and aimed for his chest. The sword drove through and Ridley stopped. Slowly, Ridley crumbled to smoke and my sword dropped to the ground.

"Is Ridley always that big?" I panted out. I fell onto my butt as I tried to catch my breath. "I think I lost a few years off my lifespan when Ridley read my landing."

"Ridley's actually bigger." Crazy collected the spirit that popped up from where Ridley was.

"What."

"Yeah, we actually had to shrink him down a bit to be in the tournament. But the two you just fought looked like they were affected by a Mushroom." As my brain tried to comprehend just how big Ridley could be, Crazy peered over at the lava. "I think that Robin and Ridley were from the spirit. What's the statue?"

I walked over to the statue and checked the nameplate:

 **Smasher No. 13  
** **Peach**

"I'm fighting fruit now?"

"That's just her name," Crazy hissed. "She's the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. She shouldn't be too much trouble as long as you stay on your toes."

"Yes ma'am." I gave a salute before activating the statue. The wall set itself up and before me stood a woman with a gold crown atop her blonde hair. She wore a pink dress with a blue brooch and was armed with a pink parasol. I gave a quick bow, "Milady. I do apologize but I'm going to beat you up now."

" _Why are you like this?"_ Oblivion sighed as I ran at the princess, readying my sword. I swung but Peach pulled something out from behind her. It was a short guy with a big white mushroom cap with red dots on his head. My blade struck the guy and he shot spores(?) out at me.

I was sent reeling back which Peach used to her advantage. She sent me flying with a frying pan, pulled from her inventory. Peach jumped after me, pulling off her crown and swiping me with it.

I flew into the wall and fell to the ground. On the other side of the wall, Crazy sat there. "I said stay on your toes. Are you doing that? No."

I glared at her before turning back to Peach, who was sipping tea, from a porcelain cup and a saucer. Pulling out the Steel Diver, I shot at her. The princess dodged the first torpedo but got hit by the second one. After getting back to her feet, Peach got better at dodging my shots, weaving between them. Once she was a few feet away from me, Peach lunged her entire body at me, butt-first.

I jumped over her and slashed at her in midair. She slammed against the wall and I shot at her once I landed. The torpedo hit her dead on. Rushing through the explosion, I grabbed her by the collar and threw her the ground. Peach bounced off the ground and I charged a slash before letting it go at her. The blade cut cleanly through Peach and she collapsed into smoke, dropping another amiibo.

"Told you that Peach wouldn't be too much trouble," Crazy said as the wall fell. I picked up the amiibo and stared at it, ready for my next memory.

* * *

" _5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Ready or not, here I come!"_

 _That was Brandon. I was about 4, and playing at my church. There about 5 of us playing hide-n-seek. I was currently in the hallway, desperately looking for a hiding spot. My brother went into the gym, my sister was hiding in the office, and Jason ran into the bathroom. I spun around the room, looking for a spot to hide._

 _Maybe under the chairs? No, they could still see me._

 _I heard footsteps coming from the hall. I thought quickly. Next to the office door was the closet. As fast as I could, I opened the door and shut it behind me._

 _I sat down among the cleaning equipment and tried to suppress my giggles. They would never find me in here!_

 _I listened carefully to what was happening outside the closet. I heard footsteps closeby. A door creaked open and I heard someone cry out. My sister was found._

 _The footsteps sped up and faded as they moved away from my hiding spot. I held my hands over my mouth, not even risking the slightest sound._

 _Minutes continued to tick by into what felt like hours. I kept the closet light off for fear of it giving away my position. Sitting in the darkness, I began to imagine it move._

 _The darkness clung to me. I couldn't move my feet._

 _It made its way up from my feet, traveling slowly up my legs._

 _Reaching my knees, I decided to turn the lights on. I reached my hand out for the switch, only hitting cold wall as I felt for it._

 _I realized the problem. The switch was outside the closet, next to the door._

" _T-that's not a problem," I told myself. "No one will be outside."_

 _My hands crept along the wall, finally reaching the doorknob. I gripped it, preparing for the burst of light that would come from outside. No such thing happened._

 _The knob refused to turn. I was stuck in the closet with a darkness that had reached my waist and continued to climb my body. I fell to the ground, crying._

 _Five minutes later, my siblings had found me sobbing on the closet floor._

* * *

I stood quiet. I never liked small places.

" _Nathaniel, are you okay?"_ Oblivion asked. " _You usually have some kind of comment after you see a memory."_

"I'm fine," I whispered to him, choking back a sob. I'm 18, why would a childhood memory of being stuck in a closet bother me so much? I turned to Crazy, "You ready to go back to the main island?"

I tossed her the amiibo and we made our way back to the final island. We walked up some stairs to find a black void with eyes sitting atop a throne.

"Is that the boss?" I questioned. The void grew, forming arms and legs. The eyes shaped itself into a head and the darkness faded. Standing in front of the throne was a bipedal turtle with a spiked shell and red hair that had two horns sticking through them.

"Bowser? But there wasn't a Smasher Statue so that means," Realization dawned on Crazy. "Oh no."

Dark energy began to spark around Bowser, wrapping around his body. He got on all fours and there was a flash of light. Once the light died down, Bowser stood before us. The turtle had become even more monstrous easily dwarfing Crazy and I. The spikes on his back became dangerously sharp, the horn developed a wicked curve to them, and fangs sprouted out of his mouth like a cave of daggers.

I took a step back as he roared. Bowser, Giga Bowser now I guess, was bigger than anything I had fought so far, how could I beat him? My weapons would barely scratch him.

I turned my head to look at Crazy. She stood her ground, unfazed by the monstrosity before her. I stepped forward beside her, gathering my courage.

"We'll just have to do everything we can to take this guy down. Right?" I wondered out loud, withdrawing my Beam Sword and Steel Diver. Crazy looked at me from the corner of her eye, smirking. Giga Bowser charged at us.

Crazy dodged and I did the same. Although there was a problem. Giga Bowser targeted me and followed. Despite the immense size, Giga Bowser was pretty quick on his feet. Swiping with his claw, Giga Bowser grabbed onto me and jumped. As I tried to withhold my nausea, I felt the world flip and I looked up at the floor. I flew into it, sandwiched between the stone ground and Giga Bowser's massive body.

Giga Bowser soon got off as I layed on the floor, trying to see if the pain would subside. I raised my head, pain shooting through my skull. There was no blood and Bowser is a Smasher so the fight looked like a fight from a Smasher Statue with no walls. Good. I looked for Crazy to see her dodge flames that the boss spewed from his mouth. Unfortunately, she stepped too close to Giga Bowser and he withdrew into his shell, spinning to create a blizzard.

Crazy got flung to where I lay, frozen in a block of ice. I shakily got to my feet and hobbled over to her as the ice broke. "Any ideas?"

"One of us will have to distract him so the other could hit him." She managed to get out as her teeth chattered.

"I'll distract him." Before Crazy could respond, I made a mad charge at Giga Bowser, shooting torpedoes to get his attention.

Good news: I did get his attention. Bad news: I got his attention.

Brushing off the explosions, Giga Bowser tried swiping at me again. I rolled under his arm, slashing at his belly and jumped away before the turtle could react. I slid between his legs as fire was shot to where I was seconds ago. I heard Crazy's Staff go off several times and Giga Bowser roared in pain. I turned to see that he turned his attention to Crazy and was now charging after her.

I started shooting at Giga Bowser's head but he ignored them. Crazy charged at Giga Bowser and slid between his legs as he breathed fire down where she stood moments ago. She ran to where I was and knocked me on the head with a knuckle. "That was stupid of you."

"Criticize me after the fight," I shot back. We turned our attention back to Giga Bowser, who was standing over us. The boss had closed the distance between us as Crazy and I talked. Opening his maw, fire spilled out and Crazy and I split up.

I backpedaled, trying to stay out of Giga Bowser's reach. I was successfully as Giga Bowser swiped at me several times, only to come up empty-handed. My feet then tripped over the edge of the velvet carpet and I fell to the ground, hard. Bowser pulled his arm back, preparing to punch me. Fear shot through me. If getting punched by this monster didn't kill me immediately from impact, the punch would be enough to launch me over the edge of the platform and I would fall into the lava.

"This isn't over yet!" a voice cried out. Someone dashed out in front of me, armed with a sword. I tried to yell at them to move as the fist came at us when the guy waved his sword in front of him. A rainbow lingered in the air from the swordpoint. As soon as, the rainbow touched Giga Bowser, the monster instantly spun around, with his back now facing us.

The swordsman walked over to me, reaching at his hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me to my feet. He looked to be a little taller than average, with a plain-looking sword in a gloved hand. Wearing a blue tunic, he had blond hair that had a small ponytail at the base of his neck. From his grip, the swordsman was definitely well-muscled. I asked in amazement, "Who are you?"

"I am Sir Clarence O'Leary," he replied. "I believe you require some assistance in this fight."

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy**

 **Items: Nathaniel-Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Death's Scythe**

 **Crazy Hand- Staff, Deku Nuts x2, Green Shell**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Captain Falcon, Peach, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Nathaniel: What the heck was that?!**

 **MG: *flipping through a book* What do you mean?**

 **Nathaniel: I'm getting my butt kicked and then this guy comes out of nowhere and saves me. Then the chapter just ends! He's not even here!**

 **MG: It's called a cliffhanger. *turns to audience* About the new summary, I'm still working on it so I'll probably change it next week.**


	14. Chapter 14: Clarence Cuts In!

**Author's Note: School's picking up a bit. Not sure if it will affect updates but it definitely has been hurting my focus on writing these chapters.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo, Super Smash Bros. and/or any franchises or characters that may or may not appear in this fic. I only own the story and a handful of characters. If I did own Nintendo, we would have had a January Nintendo Direct.**

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Clarence Cuts In!**

I turned to look at Giga Bowser, then back at Clarence. "Fine," I muttered. "You could help."

"Very well," he answered. We ran at Giga Bowser. The boss spat fire and we dodged to the sides, Clarence went left and I rolled right. Giga Bowser turned to face Clarence but turned to me when a torpedo blew up on the back of his head.

Giga Bowser charged, and Clarence slid out from between the monster's legs, slashing at them as he did. Giga Bowser fell onto his back and I ran to Clarence. He crouched and cupped his hands together, giving me a boost to jump and plunged my sword into Giga Bowser's stomach.

Roaring, Giga Bowser spun back onto his feet. I was flung away, losing my grip on my Beam Sword in the process. Thankfully, my fall was cushioned.

"Oof!" Crazy yelped as I slammed into her. She fell onto her back with me on top. "Why? And who's that?"

"Some guy named Clarence," I groaned, rolling off of Crazy. Getting back to my feet, I looked at how the fight was going. The new guy was surprisingly still alive, moving out of the way of Giga Bowser's fire breath.

As he slashed at Giga Bowser's leg, the swordsman began to glow with a rainbow aura. Crazy shouted, "Use your Final Smash!"

Clarence backflipped away from a claw swipe. He did a few swings as the rainbow aura began to coalesce around the blade of his sword.

" _Final Edge!"_ He announced. Beginning to slash rapidly, Clarence began shooting multi-colored sword slashes from his sword. The crescents flew towards Giga Bowser in a red/green/blue flurry that began to cut the boss to shreds. Giga Bowser fell apart, ending the battle with the sound of the amiibo and Beam Sword dropping.

"Fudge," I muttered. I walked over to pick my sword and the amiibo. Picking them up, I turned to eye Clarence, who promptly began to leave.

"Hey, wait!" Crazy ran after him. Meanwhile, I just looked down at the Bowser amiibo in my hand. After fighting Giga Bowser, regular Bowser didn't seem to be anything special. Wait.

" _Aren't you supposed to get your memory back?"_ Oblivion asked what I was thinking.

"I don't know. It's usually starts coming back when I look at the amiibo." Panic began to rise in me. Wouldn't this mean that I won't get all my memories back? What would I do then? On the other hand, I did say that recovering memories wasn't too much of a priority. Now, I can just focus on fighting Galeem. Yeah, that would be fine. Everything is fine. No need to worry.

" _Nathaniel, Crazy Hand and that new guy are leaving without you,"_ Oblivion said, snapping me from my thoughts. Pocketing Bowser and the memory issue, I chased after them.

* * *

"We would have been dead without your help," Crazy said to Clarence. I managed to catch up to the two as they exited the fortress.

"I know, as you have said for the fourth time already," Clarence answered.

"What's this? Excessive gratitude time?" I commented. Upon hearing my words, both of them turned to me with a pleading look.

Crazy sighed before gesturing at Clarence. "I'm trying to get this guy to come with us to help fight Galeem but he keeps refusing."

Clarence huffed, "And as I have told you already, I have already sworn an oath to my kingdom. I must return home as soon as possible to Laoth. Who knows what sort of evil has befallen my homeland?"

"And as I have said before," Crazy fumed, "Returning to your kingdom won't help when Galeem fuses your world with this one!"

The two began to argue as I began to think. Crazy wants Clarence to come help us. However, Clarence instead wants to go home.

A rumble cut through the two's bickering. I apologized, "Sorry about that. I'm pretty much running on fumes after that fight."

"How about we at least camp together for tonight?" Crazy suggested.

"But-" Clarence began before Crazy cut him off.

"As I have said, we owe you our lives, at least let repay with some dinner."

"I had that fight under control," I muttered as Clarence reluctantly agreed.

As we set up camp, Clarence began to share a bit of his life. He comes from the Kingdom of Laoth, one of twelve kingdoms in his world. After a war between the kingdoms, he was orphaned as his father died in combat and his mother died during childbirth. And so, Clarence was raised at an orphanage that a noble started to care for the orphans left by the war.

Due to how the orphanage works, he was able to enlist in the army and worked his way up. Currently, Laoth was in a war against several other kingdoms, led by a conqueror from the Amuria kingdom. I stopped listening after that, instead brainstorming with Oblivion about the Bowser amiibo.

" _I think we can agree that the only two remaining is possibilities is that the Bowser amiibo didn't restore your memory is either due to Galeem making Bowser a boss or the memory you recover is just delayed,"_ Oblivion theorized.

"Of course," I argued, "we don't even know the cause of my amnesia. It's possible that not all Smashers will give me back my memories. For all we know, recovering my memories when I defeat Smashers could just be coincidence in timing."

" _True true."_ Oblivion admitted, " _Should you tell Crazy about this? She might be able to help."_

"That is out of the question. I made it clear to her that my memories weren't a priority. If I tell her about this, it'll make me seem like the type of person who changes their mind a lot."

" _Are you really that worried about your self-worth in her eyes?"_ Oblivion questioned.

I thought about it before affirming my intention, "Well, that is maybe 5% of why. I just don't want to worry her. Like I said, my memories aren't a priority and it's not like they're absolutely needed to take down Galeem. If I don't have all my memories back after we beat Galeem, I'll worry about it then."

" _Alright then,"_ Oblivion wavered, then I felt his presence receding from my mind.

"Hey." Something tapped me on the shoulder.

"HOLY CHEESECAKES!" I yelped, jumping from my seat. Turning, Crazy was looking with a dismayed look on her face.

"Nathaniel, I'm heading to bed," she gestured for me to move closer to her and she whispered, "Could you keep trying to convince Clarence for me? I've been having no luck at getting him to join us."

I gave her a thumbs up and she headed into her tent. Finishing my soup, I began to stare at Clarence, who sat across from me and was sharpening his sword.

"Soooooooooo, how's life?" I asked.

Clarence looked up and gave me a blank stare. He gestured with his head towards Crazy's tent. "That woman. Who is she?"

"Her name's Crazy."

Giving me a worried look, Clarence questioned me, "You're trusting a woman named Crazy?"

"In my defense, I'm pretty sure that's a nickname." I paused, letting that sink into my own head. "Not sure how that's better but still, she helped me not die."

"Well," Clarence set aside his sword, giving me another worried look, "Crazy asked you to convince me to join the two of you, right?"

"Yep." I brought the bowl up to my mouth, only to put it down in disappointment as I realized it was empty.

"Shouldn't that be what you're doing?"

"Honestly, I don't care too much," I admitted, setting aside the bowl of disappointment soup. "Crazy and I have been doing fine so far so, I don't see much reason for you to join us."

"What are you two even doing? All Crazy told me was something about a guy named Galeem."

"Galeem, our enemy, is trying to fuse the worlds of the multiverse together for reasons unknown. In order to accomplish that goal, he has already fused several worlds into the one we're currently on." Telling Clarence about our situation, it felt like I was just reading it off a script. "In addition, Galeem has captured several of the multiverse's greatest fighters and imprisoned them. So now, we want to kill him for that."

Clarence continued to stare, "And why did you join her? You don't seem like you care too much about what happens."

I shrugged, "If I help, I get to join the tournament that all the fighters Galeem has were in. I guess there's the side-benefit of recovering from my amnesia by rescuing those fighters as well."

"So you have a personal stake in this as well," Crazy murmured, finally breaking eye contact.

I jumped up to my feet, "Alright, my turn to ask questions!" Before he could protest, I shot my first question at him, "Question 1! You introduced yourself as _Sir_ Clarence O'Leary last chapter. Why did you add the sir?"

"What do you mean by last chapter?" He questioned, before getting silenced by a glare. "I told you, I'm a knight of my kingdom. It's faster to introduce myself with sir rather than a list of my achievements. I suppose I could introduce myself as Knight Clarence O'Leary, royal champion to Her Royal Highness-"

"I'm just gonna stop you right there," I interrupted. "Next question! How'd you get to this world?"

Looking slightly miffed that I interrupted him, Clarence answered. "I'm not sure. I was sleeping one night and I heard a voice. The voice introduced himself as some being named Master Hand and he was asking for help. I answered and I woke up here."

"So, you were sent here after accepting a plea for help but now you want to go home," I raised an eyebrow at him. "Seems like a jerk move, right?"

"Regardless of it being a jerk move or not, my priority is to my kingdom, not-" he gestured with his arm at our surroundings, "-the entire multiverse. I must return to Laoth to protect my people."

"Alright then. Anyway, if you're a knight, where's your stuff? I thought knights had shining armor, equipped with a sword and shield, riding a horse and mowing down enemies like weeds."

"An image of knighthood like a child," Clarence whispered to himself. His voice rose to answer my question, "My clothes were different when I woke up here and I had this sword. Any other equipment was gone. My guess is because of that Master Hand."

"Okay. Wha-" Clarence raised his hand, cutting me off.

"I asked four questions and you asked four. Now, we're even." In my response to my bewilderment, he clarified, "Seems like a jerk move, right?"

"Dang it."

Clarence got up, grabbing his sword, before walking away and gestured for me to follow.

I followed until he stopped a good distance away from camp. The knight spun around to face me and lifted his sword. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Why don't we spar?" Clarence said, doing a few practice swings. "I would like to see what you can do with that peculiar sword of yours."

"Fine, but I get to ask one more question after." I dug through my pockets, pulling out my Beam Sword and I clicked the button, the blade shooting out. I adjusted my stance as I prepared to fight Clarence, focusing on his sword.

A comment broke my concentration however, "Come to think of it, I never got your name."

"Oh yeah" My eyes shot up to Clarence's face, "It's-"

I got cut off by a sword flashing up to my face. I stumbled back from the ambush. Clarence kept the pressure up, advancing with precise sword strokes as I kept hopping away. He lunged, sword aiming at my stomach. Sidestepping the blade, I swung at his face.

Clarence rolled under and got to his feet. "Decent reflexes. As far as I can tell, you're mediocre with a blade."

"Ow," I muttered. Focusing my attention on his sword, my eyes widened as it was covered in a blue aura. Clarence dashed forward as the aura encased him, lunging out faster than he did before. I jumped to the side, but not quick enough as pain flared up in my side. Falling to a knee, my hand came away with blood after I touched my side.

"Great," I thought. "He could kill me."

" _Shouldn't you just plead for mercy?"_ Oblivion commented. " _He has you outmatched."_

I stared at Clarence, who had been standing there after the lunge he did, my eyes narrowed. " _ **No.**_ "

I ran at the swordsman, swinging my sword as hard as I could in an overhead strike. His sword flicked up, blocking my strike. I fell into mindless rage as I began to swing randomly at Clarence. Like my first strike, Clarence blocked all of them with ease, his sword stopping all of them.

Eventually, I stopped, gasping for breath. Watching me, Clarence spoke, "None of your attacks had much technique to them."

"Shush already," I managed to get out.

"Let's get you back to camp. I've seen enough." Clarence lent his shoulder to shoulder to help me walk back to camp. He handed me some of his soup to heal and I dropped onto my sleeping bag after eating it.

" _He could have easily kicked your butt. I'm pretty sure he went easy on you,"_ Oblivion goaded.

"Shush."

" _He only did, like, three attacks. The rest was just you sucking enough to tire yourself out. That only took about three minutes."_

"Your point is?" I grumbled.

" _Why not ask him for lessons? You could learn more from him than you can from me,"_ He pointed out.

I turned, looking at Clarence. He sat against a rock, eyes shut, and a spare blanket was draped over him. "What's the point? He's going to be leaving soon anyway."

" _You don't know that."_

"What, and you do?"

" _Well, if he does stay, you should ask. You're kinda garbage compared to him."_ Oblivion left after those wonderful words.

"Freakin' voice in my head," I grumbled. "Says what he wants about my sword skills. Can _he_ wield a sword better? No. Because he's just a voice. Doesn't even have any arms."

I shut my eyes and continued complaining about Oblivion. Eventually, the complaints dried up and I drifted off into sleep.

* * *

 _The cloaked man had changed clothes. He sat on a bench across from me, wearing a black jacket, dark blue jeans and black sneakers. Like my previous dreams, his face was obscured by the hood. Looking down, he played with what looked to be a phone._

 _I took a look at our surroundings. The previous dreams had taken place in what seemed to be stuffy war tent but this one was far different. We stood in a modern park, surrounded by rising skyscrapers that stretched into a bleak sky. The air was filled with honking cars, people talking, and something else._

 _I took a deep breath, only to recoil at the smog in the air. Covering my mouth with a sleeve, I made my way over to hooded guy as he began talking on the phone._

" _Crazy, the target is exiting the building," I heard as I got within earshot. I sat next to him and followed his eyes to see a middle-aged man in business suit walk out of one of the skyscrapers and hurry down the sidewalk. The target carried a briefcase in one hand and spoke on the phone held in the other._

" _Who's Crazy? Over."_

 _The hooded guy looked at his phone and sighed before putting it back to his ear. "Chansey Tango, the egg has hatched. I repeat, the egg has hatched. Over."_

" _Roger that Sharpedo Waltz. Engaging now. Over."_

" _The whole purpose of this was to avoid attention," Sharpedo Waltz said. "Codenames like these will just attract attention."_

" _You think you have it bad?" A new voice came from the phone. It was Master Hand speaking._

" _This line is only meant to be used for serious business Macarena Magikarp. Over," Crazy admonished._

 _I chuckled as Sharpedo Waltz got up and began to cross the street. Moving to follow, I gazed to see where the target went. Crazy spoke again from the phone, "The pokemon is in the ball. I repeat , the pokemon is in the ball. Over."_

 _The hooded man ducked into an alleyway and I followed, only to stop as I saw him jump into an ice cream truck. "Perfect," I muttered, "The guy I'm dreaming about just kidnapped a guy. In hindsight, I should not be surprised by this."_

 _Passing through the front of the truck, I passed Master Hand in the driver seat and went to the rear of the truck to find Crazy on a laptop. Sharpedo Waltz was rifling through the briefcase that the target had when he was walking earlier. As for the man in question, he was lying on the floor with a black eye._

" _Did you really have knock him out?" Sharpedo Waltz asked, pulling out a manilla folder and dropping the briefcase._

" _The guy works as Tabuu's lackey. He wouldn't just hand his stuff over nicely," she answered before snapping her fingers. "Think I got it. I now have access to all the data on this computer."_

" _Perfect. Let's dump this guy as soon as possible then." The hooded guy flipped through the folder a bit more, taking out some papers that seemed to catch his interest. Meanwhile, Crazy plugged a flash drive into the laptop and kept typing away. I moved closer to take a peek at what the hooded guy was looking at, only for him to shut the folder._

" _I got everything we need," he said as he put the folder back into the briefcase. I moved over to Crazy to look at the laptop. Unfortunately, she shut it before I could look._

" _I'm done on this end as well," she handed the laptop to the hooded guy, who stuffed it into the briefcase. Crazy bounded up to the front, "Hey bro, do you remember where the guy lives?"_

" _Yeah, let's get on our way." Master Hand moved the shift to drive but something started beeping._

 _I turned to see that Sharpedo Waltz pulled out his phone and was busy tapping away. "We got an incoming from another world. I'll take care of it."_

" _Are you sure?" Master Hand asked. "One of us could take care of it."_

" _No, I'll be fine. Besides, you don't need me for going through the stuff we just got." He jumped out of the van and walked to the main street. A crack in the sky appeared and through it, dark spores began to flood through, like water flowing through a cracked dam. The spores gathered once they landed, forming a humanoid shape with gloves, an army green body and hat with red eyes._

 _As people began to run past, the hooded guy confidently strode towards them. "Primids, huh? You would think that Tabuu would throw more than the standard mook at us, right?"_

 _He cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled, "My name is Markus Grem! This will be your one and only chance to surrender! Refusal to do so will be met with a violent and painful end! Why am I doing this, you guys are not going to listen anyway!"_

 _Markus was right. The Primids charged to attack him._

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Death's Scythe**

 **Crazy Hand- Staff, Deku Nuts x2, Green Shell**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Captain Falcon, Peach, Bowser, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **MG: Anyone up for a fun fact?**

 **Clarence: I'm interested.**

 **MG: Apparently it's bad luck to say Macbeth in a theater.**

 **Nathaniel: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?**

 **MG: Telling you guys about a cool fact tha-**

 **Nathaniel: LOOK AROUND YOU! WE ARE IN A THEATER!**

 **MG: Macbeth was only believed to be bad luck because it was typically used by low-budget acting companies. It's not actually cursed.**

 **Crazy: Wait for it.**

 ***crickets start chirping***

 **Crazy: I guess you may be ri- *part of the ceiling breaks and crushes MG* and I stand corrected.**

 **Clarence: Is it like this every week with you people?**

 **Nathaniel: Sometimes.**


	15. Chapter 15: Rock n' Roll

**Author's Note: Man, why didn't I do this earlier.**

 **Gfish59: Clarence is an OC. Sorry for not making that clear.**

 **Elysium: Yeah, I could see where you're coming from. I'm not too sure if I did a decent job of explaining a bit more this chapter but advice on how I could improve would always be helpful.**

 **Guest: Thank you.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Super Smash Bros. and/or any characters that'll show up in this fic. I only own Nathaniel, Oblivion, and Clarence.**

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Rock n' Roll**

"Nathaniel!" I jumped awake, turning to look for Crazy. She stood across from me, hands on her hips.

"Did something explode?" I asked, slightly worried.

"No," she sighed. "Clarence left before I woke up." I looked over to where he was sitting last night. The blanket was folded neatly next to the rock. "I guess you couldn't convince him."

"No." I got up and began to help pack up camp. "Why do you want him to join us anyway? We hardly know anything about him."

Crazy turned to stare, "You really weren't paying attention that much last night?"

"Nope."

"Clarence is from an Origin World, like you. His world is divided into 12 kingdoms. His is the kingdom of Laoth. Recently, the royal family of Amuria, a different kingdom, was overthrown by a guy named Garett who wants to unite all the kingdoms."

"What's so bad about that? Every country goes through a revolution at some point or another," I paused, trying to pick an example. "I think at least 5 countries in my world had some."

"The guy wants to unite them through force. From what Clarence told me, Garett has already conquered two other kingdoms and Laoth was being invaded when Clarence left."

"Okay. And?" I questioned as I put the sleeping bag away. "If he had any confidence in his kingdom, then they'll fight off the invasion fine. If they don't, that's just how the cookie crumbles."

"I asked him about that," Crazy said, "I think he's in love with the princess."

"How'd you know that?"

She paused, "He got that look people have when they talk about people they like."

" _Dis-gusting_."

Crazy just gave me a look at my stance on love before continuing, "Anyway, it's probable she'll be put to death if Laoth gets taken over."

"Why is he just a stereotypical brave hero that falls in love with the princess?" I turned to the sky before yelling, "C'mon life! Throw a curveball or something!"

"Don't be rude," Crazy admonished. "If we meet him again, you could drag more details out of him about his life."

We finished packing up camp before heading south. A thought popped into my mind. "How did Clarence get here? He told me that he was here because of Master Hand but that's more of a why. I don't get how."

She huffed. "Most likely, magic. My brother would have had a plan in case him and everyone else has been taken out. My guess is that it's a spell with a time delay. If a certain amount of time passes without him or one of the Smashers active, it would summon someone from an Origin World to help."

"Couldn't you have used that to convince Clarence?" I questioned. "Galeem has M.H. so if we defeat him, M.H. could send Clarence home."

Crazy stopped, "Excuse me for a moment please."

She ran to behind some rocks before I heard her screaming. A lot. Lots of cursing too. A _**lot**_ of cursing. Some of it was even in languages I couldn't understand but the meaning was clear. I'm not putting any here because it would take up a lot of pages.

Crazy finally came out after an hour. "Right, so what were we talking about?"

"WHAT?" I yelled, "MY EARS ARE STILL RINGING!"

She clamped her hand over my mouth, "Stop screaming. Please."

"Oh right. Question. Do you think I'm here because of your brother's magic?"

We continued on south. "No. You lost your memories but Clarence didn't so unless the spell was damaged somehow, you came here through a different method."

" _I'm hurt,"_ Oblivion complained. " _I'm the reason you're here but you're asking if you're here because of a giant hand."_

"Sorry," I whispered.

The sound of rushing water broke my thoughts and I turned to find the source. It was a waterfall. Crazy and I walked closer to the waterfall and I began to check it out. The water flowed past several ledges and formed a river at the base which moved south past what looked like an old shack. There was a small island in the middle of the river which was large enough to cross to the other side. Looking, back up to check the ledges, I saw a Smasher Statue.

"Crazy! Look up there!" I turned to point out the statue, only to shriek. Before me stood the demon. _Jigglypuff._

It dashed towards me and I rolled to the side, dodging a tackle. Jigglypuff lunged with a Pound and I jumped over the pink ball, kicking Jigglypuff away with the back of my foot. Spinning on a foot, I whipped out the Steel Diver and fired. The torpedo landed and the pink puffball blew up. The smoke cleared to reveal, nothing.

"The monster actually went down faster than before," I muttered. "Also, where's the spirit?"

My answer struck me in the head. I'm pretty sure you know what it is but another Jigglypuff hit me in the head with a Rollout. I got knocked to the side and I rolled to my feet, staring down the new Jigglypuff and the other one that came up from behind it and another one that, wait.

"One, two, three." I counted under my breath. "Oh no. I already had enough pink in my life already. Stay away you demons!"

I whacked one away as it floated towards me, only for another Jigglypuff to slam into my stomach with another Rollout. I bent over in pain and the Jigglypuff smacked me away with a Pound to my head. Recoiling from the hit, I yelled at the puffballs, "Stop doing Rollouts!"

I think the enemy actually listened to me, but they instead tried to use Sing on me. Backflipping away, I blasted them away with several shots from my Steel Diver. As they ran back to fight me, I swapped the gun out for Death's Scythe. Running to meet them, I hooked one of the Jigglypuffs with the blade and threw it at one before swinging at the third.

Giving the scythe a spin, I threw the weapon at the two that collided into each other. The blade easily cut through the two fighters, reducing them into nothing. I heard footsteps run up behind me and I spun, pulling out the Beam Sword and cut through the last Jigglypuff that tried to ambush me.

"That was still a bit too easy," I wondered.

"How much do you ignore?" I turned to find Crazy glaring at me. "I just fought Donkey Kong while you were distracted."

"Sorry. Where's the spirit anyway?" I asked.

She pointed her thumb over her shoulder at the shack. "Same thing as Anna. Let's not keep Darunia waiting."

"Sweet! Let's go buy stuff!" I moved to start running when Crazy used the scythe I threw to stop me.

"First off, don't forget your stuff please. Second, Darunia doesn't sell stuff," She tossed the scythe to me before starting to walk over to the shack. "Instead, he teaches the Boulder Style."

"You're kidding, right?"

I sighed, "What I'm getting from this is that I don't get a Killing Edge."

"Nope!" The living boulder of muscle and beard in front of us cheerfully answered. The shack's interior looked more like a dojo instead of shed. The Goron turned to Crazy, arms outstretched, "It's good to see you again sister!"

Crazy stepped back from the hug, "It's good to see you too Darunia. I think I can go without a hug."

"All right then!" Darunia turned his attention to me. "Who would this guy be?"

"I'm Nathaniel," I answered, slightly intimated. I extended my hand, "Nice to meet you."

"Nathaniel? You need to be a little _boulder_ when introducing yourself!" He grabbed my hand, almost breaking it, before almost ripping my arm off from his violent shakes. "I take it that you're a friend of the Hands?"

"I guess so," I managed to get out before Darunia released my hand. "I haven't met M.H. yet, only Crazy so far."

"Crazy Hand," Darunia's face became serious as he turned back to Crazy, "What is happening? Did Ganondorf conquer the world?"

She cleared her throat a little before answering, "Unfortunately, I would prefer that over what's happening now. We have a new enemy named Galeem. To make a long story short, it's just us two fighting him. I need you to teach Nathaniel some of the Boulder Style."

Darunia began to look me over after hearing her answer, "Are you sure? This guy is not exactly too impressive."

"Oh sure, talk about me like I'm not here." Crossing my arms, I tried to stare down Darunia. Kinda hard since he's taller than me. "Do you want to fight me?"

"I'd probably break all bones if we did so no," Darunia calmly replied. He turned to Crazy, "I'll teach him some moves. Is there any other guys that you want me to coach too?"

"I tried getting one other guy to join us but he left," she explained. Crazy walked over to the wall before sitting down, "Wake me up when you guys are done!"

"What?" I got pulled to the middle of the dojo by Darunia who turned to me.

"Alright Nathaniel! Lemme tell you what the Boulder Style focuses on! The style emphasizes movement and strong defense! To start, show me what you can do!"

"Didn't you just say you could break all my bones?" I began to take several steps back. "Please don't break my bones, I need them for stuff."

He sighed, "We're not going to fight. How about, just give me a minute." The Goron rolled over to a closet in the back wall before coming back to where I was with what looked like a punching bag. "Here. Attack this Sandbag. I can't teach you the Boulder Style unless I know what you can do."

"So, no bone breaking."

"No bone breaking unless you keep questioning me."

With that, I leapt into action, attacking the Sandbag with my Beam Sword. For several minutes, the sound of me hitting the Sandbag echoed throughout the Dojo. Darunia said nothing throughout that period of time, only to yell at me to focus when my attention drifted. Finally, Darunia shouted, "Stop!"

I stepped back from the Sandbag, chest heaving. The Sandbag still looked to be in good condition, my sword not tearing at the exterior or making the bag burst.

"You move like you have rocks for feet," Darunia commented, putting the Sandbag back into the closet.

"I take it that's not a compliment."

"Nope. You need to be a bit quicker. Also, be prepared to shield after each attack."

"Wait," I paused. "What do you mean by shield?"

"Crazy didn't tell you about shielding?" Darunia asked, turning to me. Upon seeing my blank face, he gave Crazy a look before explaining. "Combat could be summed up into three actions you could do. There is attack, grab and shield. From viewing it in the Boulder Style way, shield is the most important out of the three."

"How do I shield?" I asked. "I think I saw a Puppet Fighter do it before but I'm not too sure how to do it myself."

"First, shut your eyes and focus your attention inward." I did as the Goron instructed. "Now, take up a defensive stance." Adjusting my feet's position, I crossed my arms in front of my body. "Next, imagine something like a shield covering your entire body."

Following the instructions, I imagined shields covering my body like a bubble. I felt nothing happen. Slowly, I peeked an eye open. "Nothing happened."

"That's because you did it wrong, Granted, my instructions could have been better but let's try again. Imagine a ball of energy inside of you and use that to create a bubble around you."

"Alright, focus time Nathaniel," I thought to myself.

" _You need any help?"_ Oblivion asked.

"No, I got it," I mumbled, trying to shield again. Naturally, it doesn't work. "Fudge. Just give me minute to get it."

I closed my eyes and took a breath. " _No, you're supposed to take deeper breath."_

"Can't you just let me do my own thing?"

" _No. Keep your eyes closed by the way."_

I groaned, trying to recompose myself. "Eyes shut, deep breath aaaaaaaaand, focus." My arms shot up and I imagined the bubble popping up around me. Slowly, I cracked open an eye to see a red bubble encasing me.

"Finally!" Darunia announced. "I thought it would take you a while longer to get it!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Dropping my arms, the bubble vanished.

"Now that we're past step one, let's get to work." Darunia pulled out a giant hammer. "Alright, put it up again."

"No, don't break my bones. Please!" I begged, stepping back.

"For the third time, I am not going to break your bones." Darunia swung the hammer over his shoulder. "I was going to do a demonstration but I guess I'll explain so you stop screaming. The shield shrinks over time and once it pops, you'll become stunned for several seconds. The shield also shrinks in response to getting shrunk."

Hefting the hammer, "If the shield gets hit by a strong enough attack, that'll also break it."

"So, I just have to be careful with what I shield against," I slowly said, working out the possibilities of how to use shields in fights.

"Yep! In this dojo, we strengthen you like bone! I keep breaking your shield to help strengthen it!"

"You just had to pick that metaphor, didn't you?" I muttered. "Although, how does the shield strengthening work?"

"I'm not too sure of the logistics but the Hands put a magic on dojos that helps to strengthen you upon filling certain conditions." Dropping the hammer onto the ground, Darunia roared, "Here, it's getting your shield broken! That'll help imbed the Boulder Style into you!"

"Alright, let's rock!" I threw up a shield as Darunia swung at me.

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Death's Scythe**

 **Crazy Hand- Staff, Deku Nuts x2, Green Shell**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Captain Falcon, Peach, Bowser, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **I have something to ask you, the reader. At this point, I should have a poll up on my profile asking for which name I should use for Joker. Answering would help me a lot! Thanks for reading and see you next chapter!**


	16. Chapter 16: Pokemon Bonanza

**Author's Note: No one answered the poll. I guess I'll just keep it up for a while longer. Also, the next chapter might take longer than a week to write. I haven't really felt like writing recently.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Elysium: Don't worry, Nathaniel will recover from that. Eventually.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Smash Bros. I don't own Nintendo. I own the Ocs and the story.**

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Pokemon Bonanza**

"All right! You two should be good now! I taught Nathaniel as much of the Boulder Style as I could!" Darunia announced. He turned to Crazy, "Are you sure you two will be alright?"

"I'm sure Darunia," she said. "We'll take out Galeem in no time."

"Alright, this Crate is a gift to the two of you. I'm sure the contents will help a lot." He passed the giant Crate over to Crazy, who slipped it into her inventory. Darunia then turned to me, his voice tinged with concern. "Are we sure he's alright?"

"No thanks to-" I got cut off by another wave of nausea. Twisting my head back into the bushes on the side of the dojo, I restarted the violent process of losing the contents of my stomach again. Apparently, having your shield broken multiple times in succession makes you sick if you're not used to it.

"Sorry," Darunia apologized. "Usually, the people I train are already used to it so I forget that part."

'BLAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGggggggggggghhh. Ugh. Okay, I think it's over," I muttered. Putting my hand down to help me get back to my feet, my hand touched something cold and hard before it slid down. "Please don't tell me it's a bomb."

"It's a bomb," Crazy said.

"WHAT?" I threw myself away from the bushes.

"Yeah, there's some Bob-ombs, Bombchus, ooh, and a Smart Bomb." I turned my head to see that Crazy was looking in the crate Darunia gave her. She looked at me, "I'll hold onto these. If you had them, you would probably blow yourself up."

I moved back to the bushes and parted them to see what I had touched. It seemed to a blue button that was pushed down. Before I could tell Crazy, the ground began to rumble. I spun as the rumble seemed to emanate from a pile of boulders behind us.

"Nathaniel, what's going on?" Crazy cried out as she and Darunia ran up next to me. Before our eyes, the boulders began to vanish with a heavenly light, leaving behind a stairway up the wall. The rumbling ceased.

"I think I hit a button and this happened."

"I guess we know where we're going next," Crazy said as she began walking towards the stairs. I stopped her though.

"Actually, we kinda need to head back to the waterfalls." I pointed back in the opposite direction. "I saw a Smasher Statue up there."

Naturally, Crazy stopped. "Are you serious? You didn't mention that to me sooner?"

"You dragged me over here before I could," I answered. "Let's hurry over there."

We waved goodbye to Darunia before making our way back north. Like always a question popped into my mind, "Hey, Crazy? Will it really be as easy to defeat Galeem as you say?"

She thought for a moment before answering, "I put our odds of winning at, maybe, 6.25%. Maybe less."

I began counting on my fingers, "Did you actually do the math or did you just guess?"

"Either way, the point is that we have a lot to go through until we could beat Galeem," Crazy stated.

"Oh, we're here." I looked up at the waterfall. "I don't see anyway up there. Do we just swim up the waterfall?"

"What? No. We're not Zora." Crazy began to walk around the rock outcropping to the side of the waterfall. "I think I saw a path over here last time we went past here."

I followed her as we walked past where Crazy lost her mind. As she said, there was a path which we followed to ascend the cliff where the waterfall was located. " _What Smasher do you think it is?"_

"Oblivion, I have amnesia. Remember?" I thought to him. "I don't even remember my family."

I began to think on the memories that I got back. So far, it was mostly just bits about my childhood, which wasn't too helpful. I remember some Smashers but not enough to actually be helpful. Then, there was the Bowser amiibo. It didn't give a memory which was pretty worrying. "Worry about memories later," I told myself.

"Did you say something?" Crazy asked.

"Wh-?" I got snapped from thoughts. "It's nothing." Something caught my eye.

"Look out!" I pushed Crazy out of the way and threw up a shield. A dark, purple energy ball collided against my shield. The shield shrank slightly and the attack disappeared. Under my breath, I muttered, "Thank you Darunia."

Crazy started to shoot at the attacker with Staff and I took a look at who it was. It was about the same height as me with a purple tail and pale white skin. It kinda reminded me of a cat and angular eyes. On each hand. It had three fingers with balls on them. Interestingly enough, it was floating a few inches off the ground as it dodged Crazy's shots.

"What Smasher is this?" I asked Crazy as I shot at it with the Steel Diver. With a wave of its hand, the torpedo reversed course at flew back at me, knocking me off my feet.

"It's Mewtwo," she explained. "It's a Pokemon created from Mew, the first Pokemon. Mewtwo is kinda like Lucario without aura but has a higher base strength."

I turned my attention back to Mewtwo, who floated past all of Crazy's shots and sent her flying with a wave. Then, the Pokemon turned its attention to me. Pulling out the Beam Sword, I slashed at the approaching Pokemon. The attack didn't connect, with Mewtwo vanishing before the blade made contact.

"Oh no," I got out as Mewtwo appeared in front of me and struck with both hands covered in a dark energy. Flying back, I hit the ground and rolled back up to my feet as Mewtwo teleported again.

" _Behind you."_ Hearing the warning, I twisted around, slashing Mewtwo across the chest. The Pokemon landed back on his feet and charged at me again. Crazy's Staff went off and Mewtwo flew back. Crazy kept shooting at the Pokemon while I ran at it.

Mewtwo quickly charged up another energy ball and threw it. I stopped, shielding against the attack. Taking advantage of me stopping, Mewtwo teleported in front of me and grabbed through my shield with telekinesis. It tossed me away before launching a barrage of energy balls while I was still in the air.

"This is getting annoying," I muttered as I got back to my feet. Looking back up at the opposing Pokemon, I rolled to dodge another energy ball before returning fire with the Steel Diver. "Crazy, do you have any ideas?"

"Just keep distracting Mewtwo!" Crazy dug through her bag as I kept shooting. Mewtwo waved its hand again and a torpedo reversed course, blowing up and knocking me off my feet. Lifting my head, I saw Mewtwo moving closer to Crazy as she pulled out something black and spherical. She aligned her Staff with Mewtwo's chest and fired. As soon as the shot connected, Crazy's other hand shot up, tossing the sphere at Mewtwo.

An explosion rang out, throwing Mewtwo back. I ran to where Mewtwo would land and brought my Beam Sword up. The force from the explosion drove Mewtwo's body onto the blade. Slowly the body crumbled into smoke, releasing the spirit.

"So, Mewtwo is a Pokemon, correct?" I asked Crazy as she captured the spirit.

"Why?"

"I do remember Pikachu." I began to list off the Pokemon that I remember. "There's Jigglypuff and Squirtle. Kirby too-"

"Kirby's not a Pokemon." She interrupted.

"What do you mean? Kirby is cartoonish, an outlandish color and a creature that is monstrous behind an innocent appearance. That's a Pokemon, right?"

"No, Kirby is from a different world." She walked over and lightly punched me in the shoulder. "He and Jigglypuff just happen to look alike through cosmic coincidence."

"Yeah, right," I muttered before continuing to my main point. "Anyway, I was wondering, how many Pokemon are there? I remember some besides the ones we fought like a giant whale, garbage bags, and I think there was one that was a dragon but not a dragon for some reason."

Crazy moved to climb the waterfall, "I don't know. I lost count at 500."

"500?" My jaw dropped as I tried to comprehend that many. I remember less than 20.

"It's definitely higher than that," Crazy said as she saw my reaction. "Thankfully, only 8 Smashers are Pokemon."

We continued to hike up the waterfall as Crazy filled me in on the basics of the Pokemon world. She was filling me in on type advantage as we reached the top of the mountain. "So, dragon types beat other dragon types?"

Crazy nodded as she bit into an apple. "Yep."

"How does that make sense?" I peeked my head over the ledge, "And where did you get that apple anyway?"

"From my bag. Do you see the statue yet?"

"Yeah. Don't think I can climb down there though." I began to look around before turning to Crazy. "By the way, could I have an apple?"

"I'll give you one at Darunia's house."

"Wait, why?" My question has answered with a kick to the gut. "CRAZY!" I managed to get out as I fell into the water. As I struggled to stay afloat, I realized something.

Am I going to electrocuted? I mean, I don't know if the Beam Sword is waterproof but does it even run on batteries? I haven't replaced any yet so I don't think so.

" _Waterfall, remember?"_ Oblivion cut in.

"Oh yeah." The current and gravity pulled me over the edge. I tried to curse at Crazy as I fell but water kept getting in my mouth. Thankfully, my fall only lasted several seconds as I landed on something hard. Pulling myself from the water, I found the Smasher Statue waiting for me.

"I'll wait for you back at Darunia's!" Crazy shouted from the top of the waterfall.

"ARE YOU INSANE? DO I KNOW HOW TO SWIM? MAYBE! I'M NOT SURE BUT I COULD HAVE DROWNED!" I screamed back. She either didn't hear or ignored me.

" _Did you just ask someone named Crazy if she was insane?"_ Oblivion questioned. " _Anyway, just hurry up and awaken the Smasher. We could get payback later."_

I stumbled towards the statue and checked the nameplate:

 **Smasher No. 08  
** **Pikachu**

"Finally. A Smasher that I do remember!" I tapped the nameplate before realizing something. "If Pikachu uses electricity, and I'm covered in water, does that mean Pikachu's attacks do more damage?"

" _It's not as if you have something to compare Pikachu's attacks to. Besides, either way it will still hurt,"_ Oblivion spoke those words of wisdom as Pikachu, the famous yellow mouse appeared before me.

"Pika!" The pokemon cried out, the mouse launching itself like a missile. I sidestepped before drawing Death's Scythe. Flourishing the scythe, I swung at Pikachu, missing as the Pokemon jumped over the blade. Pikachu darted between my legs, and I spun to attack again but the Pokemon was gone.

"Pi-ka-chuuuuu!" A lightning bolt crashed down on me and I lost my grip on the scythe. Rolling back to my feet, the yellow mouse shot itself at me again. I shielded against the attack. Pikachu fell to the ground and I took the opportunity to punt it.

Turning in the air, Pikachu landed on its feet before dashing at me. I switched to my next weapon, the Steel Diver. Before I could begin shooting, Pikachu began to zigzag as it approached, making it harder to aim. As I fired off several shots, Pikachu made it to me.

Pikachu struck the Steel Diver out of my hands with a swipe of its tail before zapping with a jolt of electricity. I was launched away and fell on my side. Reaching into my inventory, I drew the Beam Sword and swiped at the yellow Pokemon before jumping to my feet.

Pikachu and I faced each other, waiting. My eyes stared into Pikachu's glowing red eyes as I waited for the Pokemon to attack. I was certain that if I ran to attack, Pikachu would use it's size to dodge before hitting me with Thunder or a smash attack. Pikachu. A small movement broke through my reverie.

Pikachu's left paw twitched a little more before it took off, bolting at me. I threw the Beam Sword, aiming low. Hopping over the sword, Pikachu continued the charge, accelerating. I shrugged off my jacket and tossed in Pikachu's direction before rolling to the side. I grabbed the Beam Sword off the ground, with a rainbow aura enveloping me as I turned to face Pikachu, who was struggling with my jacket on its face.

Throwing the jacket off, Pikachu stopped, giving me enough time to use the Final Smash. " _ **Big Beam Blade Break!"**_ I brought down the growing blade on the mouse Pokemon, bisecting it and ending the fight.

" _It's getting kinda late."_

"What do you mean?" I began picking up the items I dropped during the fight before moving to pick up Pikachu's amiibo. Memories in my mind came back, none of which was too important. I sighed, "That was a bit disappointing."

" _The sun's setting. You're going to meet up with Crazy now, right?"_ Oblivion questioned.

"Yeah," I yawned. "I think that I'll have to take the river back to Darunia's Dojo."

* * *

Something snagged onto my hood. It remained firm before pulling the upper half of my body out of the river. "Is there a reason why you were just floating down the river?" Crazy asked, holding a fishing rod.

"Maybe that's because I'm still not sure how to swim." I pulled the rest of my body out of the river. Reaching around my neck, I pulled a fishing hook out of my hood. "Floating is a better alternative to panicking in the water and drowning. Why are you fishing anyway?"

Crazy pointed to a bucket next to her filled with fish. "All Darunia has to eat is rocks. This is dinner."

I grabbed the bucket of fish and we headed into Darunia's dojo.

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Death's Scythe**

 **Crazy Hand- Staff, Deku Nuts x2, Green Shell, Bob-omb x2, Bombchu x3, Smart Bomb**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Peach, Bowser, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Nathaniel: *staring intensely***

 **Crazy: What are you doing?**

 **Nathaniel: Stuff.**

 **Crazy: That answers very little.**

 **Nathaniel: So?**

 **Crazy: *turning* What's he doing?**

 **MG: He thinks that I ate his chocolate.**

 **Crazy: Did you?**

 **MG: I woke up this morning covered in chocolate. I also have no recollection of what I did last night. You tell me.**

 **Nathaniel: I'm just thinking of how to get revenge.**


	17. Chapter 17: Three's a Crowd

**Author's Note: Somehow, the poll I had for the past two weeks got a vote. Therefore, the real name of Joker to be used in this continuity will be... Akira Kurusu!**

 **I still might not be using the name for a while. Originally, I planned to also write a Super Smash Bros. fic focusing on Joker but I decided to put that on the hold for a while.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Elysium: Yeah, I kinda see where you're coming from. I'll come back to Ch. 16 again someday and edit it. Not sure when that will be but it's on the to-do list.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Nintendo and/or Super Smash Bros. If I did, we would be getting a Pokemon Gen 4 remake.**

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Three's a Crowd**

"Apple, apple, a _〜_ _pple!_ "

" _Stop singing,"_ Oblivion begged. " _You've just been saying apple over and over again."_

"Stop doing what you're calling singing," Crazy said. We were leaving Darunia's dojo, having spent the night there. Currently, we were heading to the path that I had opened the previous day.

"Fine. I'll stop saying apple" I almost tripped on the first step of the stairway and I fumbled, nearly dropping the apple in my hand. "Ringo, ringo, rin _〜_ _go!_ "

" _I hate you."_

"Now you're just saying apple in Japanese," Crazy pointed out as we ascended the stairs.

"Am I? I have amnesia, I don't even know what Japanese is." We reached the top, and I took the moment to look around. We were standing on the wall and to the left seemed to be the crossroads where I fought Lucario. I guess that means right is the right way to go.

"It's the language of the country you seem to be descended from, judging by your last name." She pushed past me and turned right. Naturally, I followed Crazy's lead, falling into step next to her.

I took a bite out of the apple before a thought came to mind. "Hey, Oblivion?" I thought to the voice. "If apples keep the doctor away, what would happen if a doctor ate an apple?"

" _Excuse me? Where did that come from!"_

"I'm, like, 64% certain it's a saying in my world. 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away,' or so they say anyway."

" _It should be obvious. Due to the doctor-repelling properties of an apple, the doctor would not be able to go anywhere near an apple."_

"However, it is possible that a single apple by itself is not strong enough to repel a doctor. A person needs to eat one everyday to keep a doctor away after all."

" _The problem with that is that a person needs to eat only one in order to constantly keep the doctor away. Of course, a single apple may not be able to keep the doctor away forever which may hint that a single apple does not have enough force to keep a doctor away."_ Oblivion paused, as the actuality of our conversation dawned on him. " _Why are we talking about apples and doctors anyway?"_

"By the love of waffles, you're right. I don't know why." I tossed the apple up, watching as it flew into the air. Newton lied. An apple did not come back down, as the law of gravity said it should. Apple bits did instead, raining down on me. "Gah! What!"

Another arrow flew by my head, making duck on reflex. Crazy began to return fire and I scanned for who was shooting at us. They were quadruplets, all the same fighter, all were shooting laser arrows at us. All four were dressed in togas, white, pink, yellow, and blue. In addition to being armed with bladed bows, they all had wings on their back and a golden laurel atop brown locks.

"I better not be sent to Hell for killing angels," I muttered as I began to fire back with the Steel Diver.

" _Who cares! Let's make some barbecue wings!"_

"Don't worry Nathaniel," Crazy stated as she sidestepped several arrows before shooting. Her shot hit the pink angel in the forehead and it broke apart into smoke. "I'm sure that when you die, you'll go to Hell for plenty of reasons besides killing Pit."

I stared at her, my jaw dropping. "Who names their kid Pit? That's just begging for him to get bullied."

Before I heard her response, an arrow nailed me in the side of my head. Thrown off my feet, the submarine gun slipped from my fingers and I rolled to my feet. I spun out of the way of any arrow before running at the trio.

Somehow, I got close enough without getting filled with holes and I grabbed Blue Pit by the toga. Giving him an uppercut to the chin, I kicked him into White Pit. I spun, drawing the Beam Sword from the inventory. Facing Yellow Pit, he split his bow apart into twin blades before charging, slashing at me with them. I jumped back, dodging several more attack.

I leapt out of the Pit's reach before countering with the Beam Sword. The blade extended and created a deep gash across the angel's chest. I kicked him away and he faded away. I heard Crazy's Staff go off and a third Pit fell to the ground before disappearing. An arrow hit me in the back before I could turn. Landing on the ground, I shot back.

White Pit put up a barrier with small floating shields. The torpedo hit the barrier and bounced back towards me. It hit blew up, hitting me in the chest and I slid back. Screaming, I jumped back to my fight, "WHY DO SO MANY FIGHTERS HAVE REFLECTORS?"

The angel dashed towards me. I swapped the Beam Sword with Death's Scythe and used it like a spear. Jabbing Pit in the stomach, I pushed him back before hooking the blade around his ankle. He fell and rolled away before I could bring the blade down on his head. Pit brought up the bow, knocking an arrow, pointed at me.

Naturally, I threw the scythe at the angel. The blade cut through Pit, and the spirit was released from the Puppet Fighter.

I picked the scythe up and Crazy walked over to collect the spirit. I stood, watching the horizon as she did so, when something caught my eye. "Who is that?"

"Who're you talking about?" Crazy asked, absentmindedly.

I focused a bit and peered closer at the person. "Crazy! I'm going ahead!" I didn't hear her response as I ran towards the stairs that would lead me to the next area.

The area looked like something from a board game. Hills looked like giant, colorful balls that were cut in half and placed down on a grassy plain. Ribbons and rainbows acted like bridges, connecting those hills together. On one of those hills, a familiar swordsman was fighting a giant Pikachu.

Jumping off a ribbon bridge, I kicked the Pikachu away and placed myself in between the two. "How ya doing Clarence?" I asked the kneeling swordsman.

"Oh. It's you," Clarence answered. "By the Divine Will, why are you here? I had this under control." He rose shakily to his feet, before falling flat on the ground.

"Admittedly, part of the reason is to mock you. Now just sit still, Crazy's going to be here soon to heal you." I pulled out Death's Scythe before running at the Pikachu. The Pokemon charged up and launched itself like a rocket towards me. Shifting my grip, I used to the scythe to vault over Pikachu. Slashing several times at Pikachu's back, I hooked onto Pikachu's head and slammed it into the ground.

Twirling Death's Scythe, I took several steps away from the Pokemon as it rested on the ground. "C'mon Pikachu! I fought you yesterday! It's like this is on easy mode!"

The Pokemon responded to my words, rolling towards me and calling another Thunder. I threw up a shield, blocking the Thunder as it crashed down. Time seemed to slow as Pikachu moved closer, stretching out a paw to grab me. Grab beats shield.

While my shield was up, I shifted my body towards Pikachu and went into a roll. At least, that's what my body should have down. For the single second that my body was in that dodge, it felt wrong. It felt like it was weightless, like there was no mass there. I went through Pikachu and that feeling disappeared when the dodge ended. I screamed, "WHAT WAS THAT?"

" _Don't forget about Pikachu!"_ Oblivion broke through my sudden concerns. I twisted, kicking Pikachu in the back. The Pokemon spun back towards me, giving me a headbutt. I dodged to the side, ignoring the weightless sensation and I knocked the Yellow Mouse away with a swing.

Pikachu fell to the ground as a dark, shadowy aura encompassed fighter seemed to be unaware of the dark aura and charged. I stood my ground and held my scythe ready. Pikachu jumped and spun around with it's tail. Moving out of the way, I swung. The fight ended as Pikachu seemed to implode the moment the aura touched the tip of my scythe.

Tucking the scythe away, I asked Oblivion, "Now, can I ask about that feeling I had during the fight?"

" _Shouldn't you be more concerned about Clarence? I think he's dead."_

"WHy? He's fiiiiiiiii-" I stopped as I turned around mid-sentence. Clarence was slumped over, face-first on the ground. "Oh."

"Why did you run over, -oh." Crazy popped up behind me. "So, you found Clarence."

"Yep."

"Is he dead? Why's he dead? Did you kill him?"

I sighed, walking over to poke Clarence. He groaned a little but didn't move otherwise. "I don't think he's dead. Blame Pikachu."

Crazy pulled out a sandwich and started to cram it into Clarence's unconscious mouth, "So where's the spirit?"

"Oh. Um." I spun around, scanning for the rainbow orb that came out of Pikachu's corpse. There was a small problem with that though. There were a handful of those floating around the area. Counting quickly, I announced the total, somewhat perplexed, "Why is there 9 spirits floating around?"

Her head shot up, now noticing them as well. "Give me a minute to finish with Clarence. We could worry about the spirits after he gets back on his feet."

"Fine. I'm gonna walk around a bit." I took off before she could respond, crossing another rainbow to get to an orange striped hill. I scanned the area again, and a building similar to Darunia's caught my eye. I decided to check it out.

" _When you dodged earlier, did you get that feeling before today?_ " Oblivion inquired as I crossed another rainbow bridge.

"No, my dodges were completely normal yesterday. At least it didn't make me sick again." I stopped. The bridge connecting the hill I was on to the one that the building sat on was a wooden one. Did I stop in fear of the splinters that the bridge would give me?

No, I stopped because a giant, gloved hand popped into existence when I finished talking. Master Hand balled himself into a fist, before slamming down onto the bridge. Doing a snap, the hand vanished again. Thanks to physics, the bridge was now in splinters.

I gauged the gap between the hills, "Whelp, can't jump across. It would be super convenient if someone came along that would fix the bridge."

I waited.

...

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...

And waited.

…

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And waited.

" _Are you actually waiting for someone to come along and fix the bridge?"_

"Any better ideas?" I snapped back at the voice.

" _Yeah, fix the bridge yourself."_

I looked at the remains of what had once been a bridge, "But, I don't know how."

" _Fine. I guess just wait for Crazy."_

"Hey! Nathaniel!"

I turned to the source of the voice. "Speak of the devil."

Crazy was crossing the rainbow bridge, dragging Clarence by the foot. "Thanks for ditching me so I could pull Clarence all the way over here. By myself."

"Sorry." I pointed a thumb at the remains of the bridge. "Anyway, do we have anything to deal with that?"

Dropping the foot, she sighed. "I think I could build a bridge but could you grab all the spirits? It might be safer to get all of them before they float off to who knows where."

"All right, fine." She passed me her Switch and I walked off. Tapping away at the screen, I pulled up what looked like a main menu. There a circle with the Smash Bros. logo in the center of the screen and four rectangles that were placed around the circle. The top left rectangle was red and said Party. Next to it was a blue rectangle that said Map. Bottom left was green and said Spirits. The last one was purple and said Chat.

"Going by the labels," I said to myself. "It's probably this one." Clicking on Spirits, more menus popped up. "Collection, capture, radar, -wait, there's a radar for spirits?"

I tapped on radar, only for the system to give me an error message. "Okay, that doesn't work. How about Capture?"

I hit the Capture and the screen changed to an empty loading bar with an A button indicated. Holding the Switch up to a spirit that floated by, I held down the A button. The bar began to load as the spirit began to be absorbed. The bar hit 100% and the Spirit was on my Collection.

"Sweet." I ran over to the next Spirit to restart the process.

" _Now that we do have an opportunity to talk about the fight, you don't want to talk about it?"_

"Oh yeah, that." I mused. "It sorta felt like, I'm not sure actually."

" _Maybe you could try replicating it again?"_ Oblivion suggested.

"Gimme a minute. I'm halfway done with this Spirit. Okay done." I set the Switch done before taking a few steps back. Wiping my hands against my pants, I took a few deep breaths and got into my usual fighting stance. Rolling to the side, nothing happened.

" _Didn't you have your shield up before dodging?"_

"Oh, right." I shielded before going into a dodge, triggering that feeling again. A kind of weightlessness and my body not feeling solid anymore.

As soon as the feeling disappeared, I did another dodge, this time, looking down at my arms. During the move, my arms blackened and broke apart, leaving a wispy trail. As the dodge ended, they reformed.

I held up an arm and poked at it. Solid and not wispy. "Did you see that Oblivion?"

" _Technically, I can't see anything. I don't have eyes. But I did observe what just happened. Did you just turn into smoke?"_

"Maybe." I did several more dodges, getting used to the sensation of my body turning into smoke. Picking up the Switch, I headed to the next Spirit, chatting while I did so. "Y'know, this is actually kinda cool."

" _You quite literally get a power out of nowhere and you're first reaction is that it's cool? For all you know, this is just the first step to Mary Sue Town."_ Oblivion pointed out.

"Hush, no one needs to know." I captured the Spirit before moving to the next one. "Besides, I didn't know how to shield before going Darunia's Dojo. Shielding is part of the process to do the smoke thing, it could have been part of my move set all along."

" _I guess. You should probably grab that one before it floats into the stratosphere."_

I hopped up after the Spirit that Oblivion pointed out, nudging it slightly. The rainbow ball floated closer to the ground where I began capturing it. "I think other characters like Mewtwo had dodges like that too."

" _I guess since it's not bothering you too much it's fine."_ I finished collecting the remaining Spirits that were floating around the area before making my way back to where Crazy was fixing the bridge.

* * *

I got there as the sun was beginning to set. The bridge was in pristine condition but a certain someone was waiting outside the dojo.

"Hey Clarence!" I gave the swordsman a wave as I walked up to the building.

He looked up, "Oh, you." Clarence gave a sheepish smile, "I never got your name."

"Yeah, you tried beating me up when I tried giving it to you." I answered. I spun around, before pointing towards the dojo. "Is Crazy inside already?"

"Yes."

As I took a step to go inside, Clarence gripped me by the arm. He locked eyes with me, "Look, adventurer-"

"Nathaniel."

"Nathaniel," Clarence corrected himself. "I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life. I'm not sure what I would have done if you and Crazy didn't show up. I've also been thinking."

"About?"

He glared at me for interrupting before continuing, "If the offer to join the two of you still stands, I would like to join. Being in a group would help me return home quicker."

I smiled, "I think the offer still stands."

 **Clarence joins the party!**

"After all, you saved our lives back at the fortress. And besides," I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer. "I still have to pay you back for that sparring session. _**An eye for an eye, isn't that how it works?"**_

Visibly stunned, Clarence took a step back. A laugh broke through as I smiled, "I'm sorry. I couldn't resist doing that. Just consider my debt for the fortress payed."

Clarence still looked a bit nervous but he laughed along a little, "I don't see what's so funny."

I patted him on the shoulder before pulling him inside, "C'mon! Let's go bother Crazy!"

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy, Clarence**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Death's Scythe**

 **Crazy Hand- Staff, Deku Nuts x2, Green Shell, Bob-omb x2, Bombchu x3, Smart Bomb**

 **Clarence- None**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Peach, Bowser, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Clarence: So I just come back?**

 **Nathaniel: Yep.**

 **Clarence: And I just join the party regardless.**

 **Crazy: Yep.**

 **Clarence: Then what was the point of me leaving?**

 **MG: Hush. No need to worry.**

 **Clarence: But-**

 **MG: I said hush. I'm busy catching this dang Pidgey.**


	18. Chapter 18: To Bee or Not to Bee

**Author's Note: I got nothing.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Elysium: Thanks for telling me about the title! I changed the title so that shouldn't be a problem anymore.**

 **Sheldon Puffy: Reviving Smashers won't be for a while.**

 **Disclaimer: Do I have to keep doing these every chapter or could I do these about every 5 or something? I don't own Nintendo. I don't own Super Smash Bros. I do own the story and Ocs.**

* * *

 **Chapter 18: To Bee or Not to Bee**

 _Fire. It was everywhere. Around me, houses burned as people cried out for their loved ones. My throat began to itch from the smoke. Covering my mouth, I began to wade through the rubble, looking for Markus. I would always end up near him so the guy should be nearby._

 _I heard a rumbling noise and what sounded like a fight. Running to the noises, I stumbled across a town square, naturally on fire as well. Markus was there, dressed in the same manner as the last dream, fighting off several Primids._

 _He cut through one before turning to several people behind him. They looked like civilians, dressed in everyday clothes that were covered in ash from the fire. Markus yelled at them, "Run! Get out of here!"_

 _The people turned and fled. Markus spun, kicking a Primid that tried to ambush him into another. He jumped and slashed through both with his Beam Sword. His version had the same chrome handle as mine but had a hand guard made of the same material and a straight, blue blade shooting out of the handle._

 _Markus spun on a foot, throwing his sword at another Primid across the square, before ducking under a Primid's punch. Sending that Primid flying with his own punch, Markus ran to retrieve his sword. As he ran to where the Beam Sword laid on the ground, a Giant Primid blocked his path._

 _The Primid raised a foot, intending to squash Markus as he shot for his weapon. The foot came crashing down on top of Markus. Markus didn't cry out in pain. He ignored the foot and it's threat on his life. He broke apart into smoke and flew past as the foot crashed against the ground._

 _Reforming, he moved into a roll and picked up the Beam Sword. The Primid began to slowly turn as Markus went to work. Throwing the sword at the Primids head, Markus smoke dashed after it bounced off. He caught it mid-air before spinning like a saw blade, falling into the Primid's head. Gouging out a large part that faded into Shadow Bugs, Markus landed as the rest of the Primid faded as well._

 _Digging though his pockets, Markus pulled out half a sandwich. Taking a few bites, he pocketed the rest before turning to face more Primids that were approaching. Swinging his sword, he shot out a slash of energy that flew, cutting through several more Primids. Markus groaned as more and more Primids began to enter the square. "Please hurry Crazy, M.H. I'm not sure how much longer I could keep them off."_

* * *

"364...365...366." The morning after last night's dream saw me learning a new style: the Big Bee Style. How amazing. The best part is that the method for me to learn it was jumping. Over and over, again.

"367...368… Crazy? How much longer do I have to do this?" Technically, it wasn't just jumping. I had to double-jump. After jumping, I had to focus my energy to my feet. Using that, I could create a foothold in the air to jump again. Naturally, that took a while to get the hang of.

"Until Honey Queen says you could stop." Crazy answered, taking a sip of her tea. She was looking over a map of the surrounding area that Honey Queen gave her. Who's Honey Queen you ask?

"You could take a break for some tea when you get to 400, Nathaniel." Across from Crazy sat a giant, cartoon bee. I'll give you five guesses as to what her name is.

"394… 395… 396… 397… 398… 399… 400." I finished. "I can't feel my legs."

"By the Will's Creation, could you complain louder?" Clarence said, taking a bite out of a slice of toast covered in honey.

"You're not the one jumping for over half an hour so hush." I took a seat at the table, grabbing my own breakfast.

"Okay, I think I got the plan for what we'll be doing," Crazy said. "There's three routes east of here. To keep moving, we should split up and explore those areas."

"Is that really a good idea?" Clarence asked. "There is strength in numbers. One of us could get overwhelmed by the enemy."

"Clarence, this isn't a horror movie. We'll be fine. If one of us gets overwhelmed, we could just run away." I pointed out. "Actually, what about the spirits? There's only one Switch so the other two can't collect Spirits. It'll be like yesterday where the Spirits just floated around."

"I could give you two the Joycons to my Switch. You just need to point and press the trigger button to collect a Spirit." Crazy explained as she pulled out the system and tossed us the controllers. "They could only hold up to 12 Spirits so keep that in mind."

"What exactly is the trigger button?" Clarence was looking over the blue controller in his hand. "Is this it?"

"No, that's the camera button." I pointed, "That's the trigger button."

"This one?"

"That's the shoulder button. It's the one below it."

"If we're done with the tutorial, let's get moving." Crazy got up and headed for the door as Clarence and I rushed to follow. "We'll meet back here when we're done."

* * *

 **Crazy has left your party**

 **Clarence has left your party**

* * *

Clarence went towards the residential area of a city and Crazy began to explore a forest on the other side of the wall that we were on. Meanwhile, I got to hike a mountain.

"Yay," I said as I followed the path to the mountain trail.

" _Why are you complaining about the mountain?" Oblivion asked. "Shouldn't it be easier than the town or the forest."_

"It sucks because," I stopped. "Because it just does, okay."

" _Sure, okay. Actually, stop for a moment."_

"Why? Is this about how Markus could do the smoke dashy thing too?"

" _No. It's about how if you had better spatial awareness, you would have noticed it already. Look right."_

I turned my head, seeing what the voice was talking about. There was a lake that was somewhere heart-shaped and there was dock that lead to the center of it. On the dock was a new Smasher Statue. "Oh. Neat."

 **Smasher No. 07:  
** **Fox**

"Please tell me that this is like Peach where they're not a literal fox." I asked as I checked the statue.

" _What, you don't like foxes?"_

"Dunno. I just don't want to get bitten." I tapped the nameplate starting the fight. I withdrew Death's Scythe, facing my opponent. A bipedal fox in what looked to be fighter pilot's uniform stood there.

"Well, at least the name is appropriate." I said before ducking. Fox was also armed with a laser gun. Why am I more surprised at the fact he has thumbs than a gun?

I began running to the side as Fox began to rapid fire. I jumped, using my second jump to land behind Fox. I struck him with the shaft before slashing with my scythe's blade. Fox was knocked back but got a solid kick at my stomach as he rolled away.

The moment my back touched the ground, I focused on the what I felt yesterday. Moving however I please as smoke, the weightlessness, the feeling that nothing could touch me. I threw my whole body into that.

My body flopped against the ground like a recently landed fish. "Gah! Oh come on! Work with me!"

" _Should you really be trying something you just figured out how to do in the middle of a fight?"_

"Yes! If I can't do it now, then when will I be able to do it!" I got sent flying by another one of Fox's kicks. I decided to hurl my scythe at the fox, missing, and pulled out the Steel Diver to shoot. The torpedo flew at Fox, who tapped a silver hexagon that was on his belt. A blue forcefield popped up around him, which the torpedo hit. Instead of exploding, the torpedo reversed course and hit me instead.

Jumping back to my feet, I swapped the Steel Diver for the Beam Sword. Taking up a running position, Fox shot forward, leaving a trail of blue afterimages. I got knocked away but rolled to my feet again. I ran after Fox as he began to fire more lasers. I decided to let them hit me since they didn't do much damage.

I swung as soon as Fox was in range. He rolled underneath the blade, coming up in front of me. My left hand shot forward, punching Fox in the muzzle. He staggered from the blow, giving me time grab his collar and kick him away. As he flew off, a familiar feeling came over me.

"Alright then, Final Smash time." I closed the gap between Fox and I. The smasher did another leaping kick at me. I shielded in time stop the attack and I dropped the shield immediately after. Readying my Beam Sword, I used my Final Smash.

" _Beat Buster Break Blast!"_ I slashed with a growing blade, hitting Fox dead-on. I picked up the amiibo and the items I dropped during the fight. Tossing the amiibo up and catching it, I looked it over. Fox was standing on one leg, looking like he was in mid-sprint. A memory floated to the surface of my mind.

* * *

 _I was 14. Sitting on a yoga ball in my living room, I was playing Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time on the Playstation 3._

 _What? I can't always play Nintendo games._

 _I was trying out a new weapon I just got, the RYNO V. It was a weapon that could only be unlocked by collecting 10 macguffins called Holo-plans._

 _The weapon was essentially a rocket launcher taped to a gatling gun but smaller. I guess you could add an old-fashioned record player as well since the game started playing Beethoven when using the weapon to tear through aliens. Actually, it might be a different composer, I'm not sure._

" _Could you turn the volume down a bit?" My sister asked. She was at the dining room table, studying from a textbook._

 _I did as she asked and kept playing. Eventually, boredom crept up on me. I turned the game off and went into the kitchen. Peeking into the fridge to see if we had any culinary delights, I asked, "Why are you studying? It's the weekend, isn't it?"_

" _Yes. According to the calendar that we use, it's a Saturday."_

" _Okay." I pulled out a juice container, grabbed a cup, and started pouring myself some orange juice._

" _Hey Nathan? Could I have some orange juice too?"_

" _I already closed the cabinet."_

 _She looked up, "You're right next to the cabinet."_

" _It's 8:40. Who drinks orange juice at 8:40?"_

" _We do. Now could I have some juice?" I poured another cup and handed it to her. Taking a sip, she said, "You're as bad as (_) sometimes."_

" _No. He's still worse than me." I took a sip from my own cup. Tilting my head, I took a look at my sister's book, "I'm surprised. Usually, you're on top of schoolwork and all that."_

 _She huffed, "I already prepared for all of my tests. This is just extra credit."_

" _Do you really need the extra credit? You have solid grades in all your classes."_

 _She turned back to her book, writing a few more lines on her paper. "It's just in case."_

" _Now you're just making the rest of us look bad."_

" _Then you should step up your game."_

 _A groan slipped out, "Now you sound like Mom and Dad."_

 _She kept writing but I felt her eyes on me as I went back to play more Ratchet & Clank. "We are their kids after all."_

* * *

I shook my head, clearing out the cobwebs. "Finally, let's get moving."

I heard Oblivion clear his throat. I don't know how he made that sound considering he doesn't have a throat but at this point, I don't care. " _Turn around."_

"Fine." I turned to the center of the lake. At the end of the dock was a red switch, similar to the one I hit next to Darunia's Dojo. I stepped on it, asking Oblivion, "Y'know, what do these switches even do?"

" _You say that but you don't seem very interested in finding out what they do."_

"No, I don't really care." I started heading towards the mountain trail. "Let's get a move on."

As I walked, I pulled out a few amiibos and started juggling them. "Hey Oblivion? Do you know how I could do the smoke dash?"

" _You're seriously calling it the smoke dash?"_

"Well, what would you call the move?"

" _Fine, go on."_

"Anyway, do you have any advice on how to do the dash?"

" _Are you serious? You did it fine yesterday!"_ Oblivion shouted.

"But I wasn't able to do it in that last fight." I pointed out. "Figuring out how to do it in the middle of a fight would help a lot in keeping us alive."

" _So? I'm not Navi."_

"Who?" I asked, my mind blanking at the name.

Oblivion sighed, " _I'm not a tutorial NPC. I don't know how you did it. I thought you just had to shield and roll out of it."_

Before I could try doing that, the air in front of me exploded. "WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN?"

" _It doesn't happen that often."_

"Oblivion. Hush." I stared down the new Puppet Fighter that attacked me. A teenage girl in a white and pink dress. She had a circlet and blond hair, along with pointed ears like Link's. Something that I'm sure is not normal, is that she is twice my height.

Arming myself with the Steel Diver, I shot a torpedo at her. The girl spun, creating a blue crystal around her. The torpedo bounced off the crystal and flew back at me.

" _Your torpedoes getting reflected back at you,"_ Oblivion said, as I rolled out the way. " _Now that happens a lot."_

"Hush already." Pocketing the Steel Diver, I grabbed Death's Scythe. My opponent spun again, this time surrounded by a green energy. In a flash, she disappeared. I heard something behind me and I got blown off my feet. Landing and twisting on a foot, I swung, aiming for her head.

The girl ducked underneath. My swing harmlessly flew over her. She swung her hand at me as it glowed with magic. I jumped back, throwing the scythe at the same time. The blade lodged itself into her shoulder as she stumbled back.

Moving forward again, I slashed with the Beam Sword. The attack landed, pushing her back further. I tried to get another swing in but the Puppet Fighter spun out of the way. She swung her hand, glowing with a dark, purple energy, and a portal opened in front of her. A suit of armor shot out, swinging a sword.

I jumped, landing on the armor's head and leaping again. I kicked the fighter in the chest as I landed, grabbing the scythe still lodged in her at the same time. I pulled the scythe out, before slashing with it.

The blade cut through the girl. Like always, the Puppet Fighter fell apart into smoke and the spirit floated out.

"Crazy said the trigger button, right?" I asked myself as I pulled a joycon out. Holding down the ZR button and pointing at the spirit, the spirit was pulled into the controller. On the side, the leftmost light of four lit up in a faint glow.

I tossed the joycon into the air and caught it, "Well, do you think we should head to the peak next Oblivion?"

" _That might be a good idea. But."_

"But?"

Oblivion sighed, " _Did you forget about the amiibos you dropped while juggling?"_

I looked at the ground around. When the Puppet Fighter attacked, I dropped all the amiibo that I was juggling. It's amazing that none of them got stepped on. I groaned, "Fudge knickers."

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?)**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Death's Scythe**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Peach, Bowser, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Clarence: What is this! I just joined last chapter and now I'm not in the party!**

 **Crazy: I finally get to have some alone time away from Nathaniel.**

 **Nathaniel: Clarence, take it up with MG. Crazy, ow. That just hurts.**

 **Clarence: *looks around* Where is MG anyway?**

 **Nathaniel: In the basement. I'm trying to get him to start on the next chapter early.**


	19. Chapter 19: I get an item after how long

**Author's Note:** **Nothing of note. Sorry this chapter's a bit late though.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Elysium: I dunno. Maybe something will happen, maybe something won't. Also, I guess you're right. Disclaimers by this point is somewhat repetitive.**

 **Sheldon: Thanks but I'm not sure what I would do with more characters so let's just see what happens.**

* * *

 **Chapter 19: I get an item after how long?**

" _This is a pretty nice view."_ Oblivion commented. We were standing on the peak of the mountain. Unfortunately, I was busy.

"Stop talking about the view!" I swung with the Beam Sword, hitting nothing but air. I felt something strike my back. I stumbled away and spun, swinging again. Nothing was there.

" _I know that you're getting attacked by invisible enemies but you do have to admit, the view is nice."_

I gritted my teeth as I felt another blow hit my back. I fell forward and felt a shock run through my body. I rolled away from the source of the electricity only to feel claws dig through across my back. Reacting, I kicked back at the attack. My foot made contact and I slashed with the Beam Sword as well.

This same pattern has been going on for the past 20 minutes since I got to the mountain's peak. I would get knocked around by the invisible Puppet Fighters for a while, then get lucky. From the attacks that I got hit with, I think there's three fighters.

"I'm kinda getting flashbacks to when I told Clarence that splitting up was okay." I admitted to Oblivion as I backed up.

" _Don't get dramatic, you'll be fine."_

A fighter punched my back for the third time. I spun, grabbing the fighter by the arm. Slashing with the Beam Sword, I landed the attack and then headbutted the fighter away. I threw my sword after them but it fell to the ground. I leapt forward, hand stretched to grab it. Instead, I got knocked away.

"Oof!" I hit the ground hard. Using the momentum, I rolled back to my feet."Oblivion, please tell me you have something to help with invisible enemies!"

" _What? Do I look like Crazy to you?"_

"I guess that would be no." I pulled out my next weapon, Death's Scythe. I swung in a wide arc, hitting something light at the end of the attack. Darting forward to where I felt the hit, I kicked. My foot hit something small and it was sent flying.

I heard the fighter land and a few feet from me, smoke rose from the ground. "I guess that's one fighter down."

Another blow to my back and I grunted. I turned, trying to find some hint of where the fighter was. Something like a cannon fired behind me and I got hit again, this time by some kind of projectile. I got knocked away and landed face-first on the ground.

"I hate everything," I grumbled, spitting dirt out of my mouth. Wait. Dirt? "You have got to be kidding me."

I got back to my feet, flourishing my scythe as I focused on the ground. I felt like kicking myself for not realizing it, but the dirt on the ground was soft. Soft enough to leave footprints of the fighters.

A set of footprints were charging towards me, along with clawed handprints, as if the person was running on all fours. I waited for the footprints to enter my scythe's reach before swinging. I felt contact and began to act on instinct. I burst into smoke, shooting to behind where the fighter is. I kicked, feeling the attack land before slashing with the scythe. There was a brief moment of resistance before the blade cut through smoothly.

I heard the body collapse as smoke rose up in front of me. I muttered, "One left."

I heard someone run up behind me. Anticipating another blow to my back, I dropped to the ground, swiping at where their feet would be. I heard them trip and I aimed a kick to where they were. Once my foot made contact, the fighter burst into smoke and the Spirit seemed to float out of nowhere.

I collapsed onto my back. "That was terrible."

" _Stop complaining. It could have been worse."_

"I'll be honest, when you say that, it kinda feels like it invalidates the effort I just put in." I got back to my feet, groaning a bit. Searching through my pockets, I pulled out the Joy-con to collect the Spirit. "Shiitake mushrooms."

The Spirit was gone.

" _Nathaniel, you had one job."_

"Hush, it couldn't have gone too far." I grabbed my Beam Sword and ran down the mountain trail. Eventually, I reached a crossroad, with the trail splitting into four paths. There was one that I was on, one east to the hills, one south that went to the town that Clarence was and the last ran west. Checking all of them, quickly, I found the Spirit floating down the western path.

I jumped, grabbing the rainbow orb before it float any further. "Gotcha you rainbow macguffin!"

" _Yeah. You really showed that Spirit who's boss."_ Oblivion muttered as I captured the Spirit with the controller.

Putting the Joy-con away, I raised my head to see that at the end of the path was a forest, complete with a semi-thick purple fog. Shrugging a bit, I followed the path into the forest.

* * *

Once in the forest, the trail got harder to walk on. Plants were cluttering the path, making it harder to walk. The trees obscured the sky, blocking it out for the most part. As for the fog, despite the color, it wasn't poisonous. All the fog did was lower visibility somewhat.

"I'm starting to hate nature," I grumbled as I picked myself back up after tripping over another tree root. Brushing dirt off my pants, I noticed something next to where I tripped.

It was a flower. The green stem had a leaf, also green, near the base. The flower head was an oval, with an outer ring being red, the middle ring being yellow and the center was white. There was also a pair of eyes. Slowly, I reached down and plucked it. "Oblivion, what's this?"

 **Item Acquired:  
** **Fire Flower**

" _Easy. Point it away and squeeze the stem."_

I did as the voice said. As soon I squeezed, a burst of flames shot out of the flower. "PIZZA SLICES!"

The flower stopped shooting fire when I dropped it, leaping back at the sudden heat. I poked the flower a few times before picking the flower up with a thumb and a forefinger. "So. It's a flower. That shoots fire."

" _Brilliant powers of observation Nathaniel. Would you also like to guess the flower's name as well for double the points?"_

"Ignis flowereous?"

" _No. It's a Fire Flower. Where did you get that name?"_

"That's not important." I got up slowly, avoiding the burning branch from that was my fault. Cutting the branch, I kicked some dirt on it to put out the fire before continuing on the path.

Thankfully, I didn't have to think of a conversation topic off since one came to me. In the form of a slingshot pellet.

I rolled away, looking for where it came from. Apparently, the fighter was hiding in the forest. I couldn't see them anywhere. "That was Villager, right?"

" _Wait, didn't you have to ask Crazy for help when you fought Villager?"_

"Hush. Don't remind me." Doing a small practice swing, I scanned the trees looming around me. Something struck me in the back. Recovering, I spun and ran into the direction the attack came from. All I found were more trees.

I heard branches behind me moving. Turning, I was met with a rocket speeding towards me. It exploded, throwing me on my back. Jumping back up, I dodged another slingshot pellet before rushing to where the attack came from,

Leaping through the bushes, I came face-to-face with the enemy. She was the same height as the Villager I fought before but was clearly a different gender. She also had pink hair and wore a matching dress with a flower print. I faltered once I saw her. The Puppet Fighter responded by pulling out a giant bug net, putting it on me, then throwing me into a tree.

"I thought I was fighting Villager!"

" _You are,"_ Oblivion answered as I pulled myself up. " _There's basically eight versions of Villager. All their moves are the same though."_

Villager ran towards me, tripping and throwing a flower pot. Instinctively, I caught the pot and slashed at villager with my other hand. Villager was thrown back and I followed. Tucking the pot into my inventory, I kicked Villager into a nearby tree.

Villager began to fall and I did several weak slashes to build damage. I finished the combo with a stronger slash that sent Villager into another tree. Instead of a collision, Villager twisted, landing on the tree with her feet and dropped to the ground.

Dashing over, Villager armed herself with boxing gloves and threw a punch. Knocking her fist away, I stabbed with my Beam Sword. The blade went through, ending the fight.

"Do I still need Crazy's help? Huh, Oblivion?"

" _How about you worry more about the Spirit that's floating away?"_ I turned, just in time to see the Spirit that Villager released shoot away into the underbrush. Following, I used my sword to hack at the plants that were in my way. " _Is it just me or does the Spirit seem like the it's going somewhere in particular?"_

"Hopefully that means a store. Or maybe a Dojo. I hope it's a store."

" _You just want another sword."_

I ignored him as I came out into a clearing. I lost sight of the Spirit but something else was there. "Oblivion? What's this? Help!"

The something else in the clearing looked like a plant. But, like everything else, it couldn't be a daisy or something that won't kill me. It had a green stem and a pair of leaves near the base where it came out of the ground. The flower head was spherical, red with white dots scattered on it. On its head was a mouth, filled with razor sharp teeth. Overall, it was the height of a dinner table.

" _That's just a Piranha Plant. Ignore it and look for the Spirit."_

I took a step to the side but my attention returned to the plant. It's head was looking down and I took a step towards it. The plant raised its head slightly before lowering its head again. "Do all Piranha Plants act like that?"

" _No actually. Shouldn't we be looking for the Spirit?"_

"One minute." I took several more steps to the plant, walking on toes as I approached. The plant didn't seem to care, keeping it's head down.

"Hey there," I spoke softly. "Is something wrong little guy?"

" _I'm pretty sure it could bite your head if it wanted to."_

"Not helping Oblivion." I turned back to the plant, "Maybe I could help if something's wrong?"

Raising its head slowly, the Piranha Plant looked at me. Then it looked down and gestured with its leaves a few times before looking up at me again.

"I have no idea what you're trying to say."

The plant repeated the motions several times, each being met with cluelessness. Huffing, it pointed both leaves at me. I nodded. It pointed at itself. I nodded. It pointed at the ground.

""I don't get it."

" _I think it's jealous that you can walk around while it's stuck in the ground."_

"Oooooooh. So you want to walk?" Piranha Plant nodded vigorously. Digging through my inventory, I pulled out the pot I got from the fight with Villager. "Maybe this will help."

I dug a hole and emptied the pot in there, leaving room for Piranha Plant. Quickly, the plant uprooted itself and entered the pot. After adding some more dirt, Piranha Plant was able to move by tilting the pot in a direction.

After watching Piranha Plant enjoy its newfound freedom, Oblivion spoke up. " _This is nice but we should get back on track Nathaniel."_

"Oh right. Piranha Plant! Quick question: did you see a rainbow ball float by?"

Stopping, the plant pointed to the right with a leaf before running back and forth. Giving a quick thanks, I ran in the direction the plant gave. Eventually, I reached another clearing, this one bigger than the previous. It also had something else in it.

Stopping, I gazed in wonder at the massive structure before me. It was a massive pyramid shaped temple, built of stone. Despite the temple's grandeur, it seemed abandoned, with vines and other plant life covering it. Then, I noticed someone near the base.

I ran up to her, a small girl with a pink mushroom hat and pigtails. Dressed in clothes fit for exploration, she also had a backpack on. She was waving at me and yelling. "Hey! Are you the help that the Hands promised?"

"Excuse me? Help for what?"

Putting her hands on her hips she huffed, "Master Hand and Crazy Hand said they would be sending someone over to help me explore this temple. Did they send you?"

"Um, yeah." I decided. "They sent me but they didn't tell me why?"

She narrowed her eyes, "I guess that would mean you're a newbie."

"Yeah. I'm Nathaniel." I held my hand out.

She took it and we shook. "I'm Toadette. Let me give you a rundown on what I do." We started walking towards the temple's entrance. "Basically, I work for the Hands under a contract. They help fund my explorations into ruins like these and in return, they get some of the money I earn in return."

I nodded, "So, what are we looking in the ruins? I'm not exactly sure what we should be looking for."

"That's tricky," Toadette answered. "Sometimes, things that don't look valuable actually are but sometimes it will be the opposite. Just tell me whenever you see anything of note. It can be anything from wall inscriptions to a cool rock."

" _Nathaniel, why are you doing this?"_

"Because Oblivion," I thought. "Toadette's clearly the Master Spirit from the Villager we just fought. Also, because money." With that final thought, Toadette and I entered the ruins.

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?)**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Death's Scythe, Fire Flower**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Peach, Bowser, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Nathaniel: Wow, we're at chapter 19 already. Next chapter will be the 20th. This feels weird.**

 **MG: Tell me about it. Also, SWOL has 30 followers! Thank you to Gfish59, 21x, Thanatos 2018, Eagle Master17,, xxsugarxxfitxx, Kurama The Platinum Zoroark, DannerBanana, oyuki kita540, brice51297, blueblade0007, and FairyTalePrincess16! If anyone doesn't want me to mention them for the thanks, just PM and I'll edit the chapters.**

 **Crazy: Thank you to all of you for your support.**

 **Clarence: When will I get screentime?**


	20. Chapter 20:Oh shoot, We're at Ch20

**Author's Note: I really am sorry for another late update and this might not be the last one. When I started writing this, I wanted to do a chapter every week for two reasons. The first is that I felt a consistent schedule would help me to not let this die and the second is to help make writing a habit. But I have more things in life than just writing. I have a project that my high school graduation somewhat depends on so the next chapters won't be uploaded on a weekly basis. Doesn't mean I won't try though.**

 **Review Response:**

 **Guest: This is late so it's not St. Patrick's Day anymore. So belated** **St. Patrick's Day to you and an early April Fool's as well.**

 **Elysium: Yeah, maybe you're right. But what will happen then?**

* * *

 **Chapter 20: Oh shoot, We're at Chapter 20**

 _Chk!_

Immediately, I threw up a shield. A second after, several arrows shot out of the wall and bounced harmlessly off the bubble.

"Why are there so many arrow traps in here?" I sighed as I resumed a brisk pace, watching the floor tiles for any inconsistencies.

"Not sure," Toadette chirped. "Those always seem to be one of the most popular, along with rolling boulders."

At the mention of that, I stopped to look around. We were stuck in a cramped corridor (Actually, Toadette was fine. Those arrows from earlier flew over her head) and a boulder rolling to crush us seemed unlikely.

"Of course, she also said that donkey curse traps were also unlikely." I shuddered at the memory. Clearing my head with a shake, we pressed onward. Eventually, however, we were forced to stop.

The corridor gave way to a small chamber, which presented a door to us. Inscribed in the stone door were a series of odd runes, nothing that I could read. There were some runes on the walls when we entered earlier but Toadette dismissed them after translating, saying that they were basically decoration.

"Soooooooooooo," I started, as the small pink Toad walked up to the door to translate. "Do-"

"Shh!" Toadette held a finger up, keeping her eyes glued to the runes. I decided to just look at the room we were in while Toadette did her own thing. The room was made of stone and there were patches of moss here and there. The only notable thing was a picture of a person.

The picture was odd to say to say the least. The picture only showed a black silhouette. Meanwhile, the person was splayed out, like the picture showed the man laying face-down but also had his head turned to the side. The person was about Toadette's height and looked cartoonish overall.

As I stared the picture down, Toadette spoke out, "Hey! I think I translated the door!"

I turned, "Really? What does it say?"

"Um," She turned back to the door to peer back at the runes, "It says, ' _Fight this guy.'_ "

"'Scuse me?"

The answer came quickly as an attack to my back. I landed on a foot and turned to see the picture from earlier was facing me. It was completely flat, as if it just peeled itself off the wall. I slashed with my Beam Sword as it advanced, which presented a new problem. The sword made contact but it did no damage.

"Toadette, can you fight?"

"I'm more for exploration than fighting so I'll just hide in the corridor!" She squeaked as she ran back to the room's entrance. Meanwhile, I managed to wake Oblivion up.

" _Why in the name of all that is good and grain are you singing Let it Go?"_

"A little help please?" I asked, jumping back from the Flat Man swinging an equally flat torch at me. My back slammed into the wall and I rolled to the side, dodging a flat chair.

" _Sure. For one, you need to be more in the moment. You were doing the song pretty mono-Heeeeeeeyy. Is that Mr. Game &Watch?"_

"I don't know, is Mr. G&W invincible?"

"' _Scuse me?"_ To show my point, I swung at Mr. G&W again. Like before, my sword did nothing and I leapt back. " _That's not normal."_

"Of course not!" I hissed as I kept backing up. "Any ideas?"

" _Easy. Hit him when he isn't invincible."_

"Oh easy for you to say!" I jumped over the flat character as I had backed up into another wall. Jumping off the opposite wall, I aimed a slash at his back. I'm starting to see a pattern since the slash did nothing again.

" _No, you're supposed to hit Mr. G &W when he's not sparkling."_

I peered closer at the fighter. He was indeed sparkling faintly. The sparkles disappeared as Mr. G&W jumped. I leapt into the air after him and swung. The moment before the blade made contact, Mr. G&W began sparkling again.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" The blade bounced off. Mr. G&W pulled out a hammer and hit me with it, whipping out a sign with the number 5 on it. Electricity began running through when the hammer made contact and I flew into a wall.

I burst into smoke once I hit, then reformed to land on my feet. Mr. G&W slammed a key into the ground in front of me. I dodged another chair swing before retaliating with my own attack. The sparkles had disappeared and Mr. G&W flew back.

Running after him, I switched to Death's Scythe and jabbed. Mr. G&W started sparkling again when the scythe made contact. Knocking it aside, the flat character brought down a torch. I hopped away before trying another swing.

The swing bounced off again. Mr. G&W approached, the sparkles disappearing. He tried swinging his hammer. I shielded, and the number came out as 1. Dropping the shield, I swung the scythe, aiming for the head. The scythe cut through cleanly.

"Hey Toadette! You can come back in now!" I tucked my scythe away and captured the Spirit as the pink mushroom entered the room. "Shall we go see what worth putting a guard for?"

Pushing the door open, I entered the next room first, with Toadette following close behind. The next room was barren, with only two things of note. "CHEST!"

Lunging forward, I grabbed the chest before us. Opening it, I dumped the contents on the ground and tossed the chest over my shoulder.

"Hey! You almost hit me!"

"Sorry Toadette!" I called before turning to the chest contents before me. "I don't know why I did that. There's not much here."

Only one item had fallen out of the chest. It looked like a yellow flag with a red S next to it. I picked it up, turning it over in my hands. The item was pixelated and flat, like Mr. Game & Watch was.

 **Item Acquired:  
** **Special Flag**

"I have no idea what this does."

" _Neither do I,"_ Oblivion added. " _But as long as it doesn't blow up, we should be fine."_

"Nathaniel, if you're done gawking at that, do you mind helping to copy these?" I looked up to see Toadette writing down the runes on the walls.

That was the other thing. The entire opposing wall was covered from top to bottom in runes and a giant mural of an angry sun with wings and an eye with dark lobster claws. "Whazzat?"

Toadette looked up from her notepad, clearly irritated, "I'm not sure. Some of these I haven't seen before so I might not be able to completely translate but it's something about two ancient forces that existed since the beginning of existence. Um," She looked at the notepad in her hand. "One's called Galeem, he's also referred to as the lord of light several times so he might be the sun. The other is called Dharkon, the lord of darkness which sounds extremely edgy."

" _It's not that edgy."_

I ignored the voice. "You had to look at your notes so I'm gonna take 10 points off your final score Ms. Toadette."

"You're not my college professor. He had better jokes. Now," she pulled out a second notepad and pencil, "start copying."

* * *

I massaged my sore hand as I listened to the campfire crackle. Toadette and I finished copying the runes and were currently sitting outside the ruins. We had made camp since night had fallen and Toadette was already asleep.

Letting out another sigh, I rose to go practice. Walking some distance away from camp, I withdrew my Beam Sword and began to follow Oblivion's instructions as I started swinging.

" _No no no. Don't swing so wide. Pull your shoulder blades together a bit more!"_

"Maybe it would be easier if you stopped yapping so much." I repeated a swing, doing what Oblivion said. The rest of practice fell into that pattern. I would mess up on a move, Oblivion tells me what I did wrong, and after several tries that mistake would be corrected. Meanwhile, my thoughts were occupied by a pressing matter.

"I could really go for some fried chicken. Wait no, brain focus please. Okay, so, if Galeem is the angry sun in that mural, wouldn't that mean Dharkon was the eye?" I recalled the eye I saw in my dreams. "So, that could be Dharkon but, why would he show up in my dreams? Actually, that would apply to Markus as well."

"Hey, Oblivion. Do you know who Markus is?"

" _The guy in your dreams. No, but seeing a person in your dreams just sounds like some cliche plot for romance fanfiction."_

"Y'know, I really hate you sometimes."

" _Oh sure, hate on a guy for no reason."_

"I do have a reason," I leapt into a jump attack, driving my sword into the ground. "Crazy might know who Markus is, she talked to him in my dreams after all, assuming that those actually happened. Therefore, I could have simply asked her but nooooooo. That would lead to the question of why I'm having those dreams. Which is most likely your fault."

" _Oh sure, blame the guy without a body."_

"Hush already." I pocketed the Beam Sword and jumped into my sleeping bag. I shut my eyes. Finally, sleep washed over my body and mind.

* * *

 _And water did as well. I was in deep enough for the sun to be a faint light, swallowed by the ocean's depths. There was one other source of light that continued further down. I merely thought about it and my phantom body moved closer to follow the light._

" _Markus do this. Markus do that. Markus, don't set fire to kitchen." The diver grumbled. Besides an air tank and a flashlight, he also carried a camera that was held on a strap. Markus stopped descending as we looked at an enormous trench that was before us._

 _Clicking through the camera, Markus began to look through the pictures on it. "If the info was right," he muttered. I got close enough to look at the image he stopped at. The photo he stopped on looked like the trench before us. "This should be the right spot. But where is the so-called Ruins of Darkness? It's a dumb name if you ask me."_

 _He paused, scanning the trench. "Yeah, yeah. I got it. Stop complaining then." He started swimming further down and I followed. Swimming further, he stopping, pulling out his Beam Sword. From within the trench, "things" swam out._

 _Some were the standard Primid, only with a helmet on. The first of two new enemies were like a goldfish, with pinker scales and several feelers. They were quite a bit bigger than goldfish, maybe smaller than a car. There was also a giant eye instead of the usual fish face features._

 _The other enemy was not a fish. Instead, it was vaguely humanoid. Emphasis on vaguely. It had four limbs and a head, organized like a person. Instead of flesh, ot was made of dark gray rectangles with a red one on the head. Surrounded by a shadowy aura, it advanced in jagged patterns._

" _We don't have time for this," Markus muttered. He pulled out another item. It was a sphere, with a cross pattern on it. A familiar rainbow aura surrounded the sphere. As the enemies approached, Markus crushed the sphere between his hands and the aura enveloped him._

" _ **Big Breaking Beam Buster!**_ " _Markus swung his Beam Sword as the blue blade grew, slicing through all the enemies. Their forms dissolved into Shadow Bugs. Ignoring them, we swam through heading deeper into the trench._

 _The darkness of the trench swallowed even the faint glimmer of the sun above us. The flashlight in Markus's hand was the only light left. Everything else remained black._

"Breathe slowly Nathaniel. This is just a dream. There is no reason to panic." _Markus's light went out. I heard him start swearing while I tried to calm down. After all, this is just a dream, right?_

"I'm pretty sure someone in a horror movie said that before getting murdered." _At that thought, my chest started beating faster. I twisted, checking behind me, only to see nothing was there besides the darkness. Anything could be in the darkness. Anything could be hiding right in front. Isn't this a dream? Nothing could hurt me if this is a dream, right? I should be fine. I should be fineIshouldbefineIshouldbefineIshouldbefineIshouldbefineIshouldbefineIshouldbefineIshouldbefineIshouldbefineIshouldbefineIshouldbefineIshouldbefineIshouldbefineIshouldbefineIshouldbe-_

" _There we go, just needed some concussive maintenance." My eyes teared up as a light lit up. I swam as fast as I could with my ghostly limbs as the light continued deeper. Somehow, we made it to the bottom of the trench._

 _Sitting at the bottom of the trench, was another temple. It was a far cry from the one I explored with Toadette. The temple was smaller and the architecture looked to be Greek. Regardless, I followed Markus as he entered the temple._

 _While the exterior was different in appearance, the corridor inside had a familiar feeling. Besides the fact everything was filled with water of course. We probably skipped over several traps as we went along. After several minutes, we reached a room like the one where I fought Mr. Game & Watch. No enemy jumped out as Markus pushed through the doors._

 _I stopped. If you ignored the water, the room we stood in was a copy of the room with where I got the flag. The runes were written on the wall from floor to the roof and right in the middle of the runes were Galeem and Dharkon, facing each other._

 _Markus got out his camera and took a photo of the two before looking at the runes. I almost didn't catch what he said but under his breath, he muttered, "I wish I knew how to read these."_

* * *

"Are you sure I can keep this?" I held out the Special Flag. The sun had risen again. Toadette decided to stay at the Ruins to decipher the runes we found. Meanwhile, I decided to head back to Honey Bee's Dojo.

"Yeah, just think of it as a reward." Toadette waved me off as I walked back into the forest, entering the purple mist that thickened around me.

I kept quiet at first, listening to any signs of Puppet Fighters. The only sounds were my footsteps and the wind.

" _Hey Nathaniel, do you have any idea where you're going?"_

"Of course I do." I stopped to point at a tree. "We passed that tree yesterday."

" _No we didn't."_

"Yes we did."

" _It's been what, ten minutes since you left Toadette's camp? That was the amount of time it took for you to go from where you met Piranha Plant to the Ruins."_

I glanced around. "Okay, I know this isn't where I saw Piranha Plant but that's because we're taking a minor detour."

" _Is the detour called being lost?"_

"Maybe." I kept walking forward. "If we keep walking in a straight line, we'll get out of the forest eventually."

" _Why not just go back and ask Toadette for help?"_

"Well you see Oblivion," I faltered before finding my voice again. "Because we already bothered her enough today."

" _Honestly, it wouldn't be much to-"_

"Oblivion, we can get out of this forest by ourselves. We don't need to bother Toadette with our problems."

Oblivion let out a long sigh, " _If you say so."_

I went back to walking in silence. But just like before, that silence was soon broken. "What's that?"

No response from Oblivion.

"Alright fine, I'll just check out that completely inconspicuous building myself and will hopefully not die to any Puppet Fighters inside without someone to give me hints or at least bounce commentary off of." I took a deep breath and waited for a response. "Still nothing. Alright then."

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?)**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Death's Scythe, Fire Flower, Special Flag**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Peach, Bowser, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **MG: I'm disappointed in myself.**

 **Crazy: Why?**

 **MG: I thought of something funny for this Author's Theater but I forgot what it was.**

 **Nathaniel: I don't care. CRAZY! WHERE IS THE DUCT TAPE?**

 **Clarence: Why do you need duct tape?**

 **Nathaniel: *points at MG***

 **Clarence: I'll help.**

 **MG: Shoot.**


	21. Chapter 21: How Shocking

**Author's Note:**

 **Wow, I haven't updated in over a month. Just, wow. Sorry for taking so long and thank you for your patience. I'm not sure if this story is going back to weekly updates. Probably not. My motivation gave out in the middle of writing so this chapter isn't as long as I hoped to make up for how long it took. Just, thank you for taking the time to read SWOL.**

 **Review Response:**

 **Guest: No cake. We all know the cake is a lie.**

* * *

 **Chapter 21: How Shocking**

 **New Area:**

 **Power Plant**

"You sir, are an odd-looking fish." Naturally, the yellow, lightbulb-shaped fish that I just picked up did not reply. I looked around the Power Plant. "Now, what am I going to do with you?"

Inside the Plant were a series of steel platforms that were bolted to the steel walls and separated by large gaps. While the gaps might be able to be jumped over with my double-jump, I didn't want to miss a jump and fall to my inevitable doom.

Across the platform I stood on, were several more platforms, as well as a giant machine that looked like a cone. I don't think I'm giving the size an accurate description. The machine reached the ceiling above me and extended below the platforms and into the black void below, presumably reaching the floor. Attached the machine were a series of Tesla coils, five to be exact. Four coils were set on the sides with the fifth on top.

Of course, what I cared about was the Smasher Statue sitting next to the machine's control panel.

"Maybe this will help." I walked over to a sign that was next to a circular platform. "Attention workers! As a reminder for proper procedure of the use of Zapfish, the directions have been written as follows. Step 1: Get a Zapfish. This step should be obvious. Step 2: Place the fish on a Power Panel as you see to the right of the sign. Make sure that your clothing does not get caught when the panel activates. That is all for the procedure."

I looked down at the fish with its derpy eyes. Somehow, this provides power? I shrugged and tossed the fish on the Power Panel. It bounced into the center which rose up, creating a sphere of electricity that the fish seemed to be providing.

Gears began to whir behind me. I spun, sword in hand. A bridge rose, connecting the platform I was on to another on my left. I glanced back at the sign, "To move Zapfish, remove it from orb and place into another Power panel. That seems a bit simple but okay."

I crossed to the other platform. Once I stepped across, I got smacked across the face with a lemon. Stepping back, I dodged a few more as the one shooting them came into view.

"Mega Man? You look different." The boy dressed in blue armor and an arm cannon ignored me, shooting another lemon out of the cannon at me. I jumped out of the way but something hit my back, knocking me back towards Mega Man.

Another lemon hit me in the forehead and I swung at Mega Man. He jumped out of my reach. I spun to face the second opponent. Best description I could come up with is Mario dressed as a doctor. Why?

I don't know.

The doctor threw a blue and red pill that bounced it's way towards me. I jumped over and kicked Dr. Mario in the face. I threw my sword after the doctor before turning back to Mega Man.

The Blue Bomber stretched out a hand and a buzz saw materialized in it. The saw flew towards me. I knocked it away as I withdrew Death's Scythe. I ran at Mega Man, readying the scythe. Instead, I felt a slash on my back and I tripped, landing on my face.

I rolled to the side and got to my feet in time to block a sword swing from Dr. Mario. "I'm pretty sure that's mine so I'll be taking the sword back."

I kicked Dr. Mario to break the deadlock and spun to knock Mega Man away. Hooking the scythe around his feet, Mega Man fell on his back. Stomping on his chest, I kicked him to the edge of the platform.

A slash drew itself across my back. Stumbling forward, I hurled the scythe at the Blue Bomber's prone figure. I spun, whipping out the Fire Flower and letting out a burst of flames. Dr. Mario kept backing away, outside of the flames' reach. I pursued, pushing to the platform's edge.

The doctor tried to get over me, using his double jump. Throwing the flower up, Dr. Mario collided with it. I leapt up, holding my hands together, and slammed down into Dr. Mario's chest. I angled the blow slightly, sending Dr. Mario into the void beyond the platform.

I landed, realizing my mistake. "Wait! Nononononononon-" My Beam Sword vanished into the void with the Puppet Fighter.

"Well, at least I still have my scythe," I said, turning. Mega Man stood there, armed with said scythe.

A blank look was on his face, while his red, glowing eyes told me to pray to whatever god I have.

I don't think I have one though.

I rolled forward, grabbing the Fire Flower. Mega Man hurled a new saw blade. I shielded, and the blade bounced off. Mega Man dashed forward, twirling like a top to ram into me.

I leapt over, trading the Fire Flower for the Steel Diver. Landing behind Mega Man, I took aim and fired.

Mega Man swept his free hand to the side and leaves began circling him, blocking the torpedoes. I got knocked away by a scythe swing and rolled back to my feet.

The Puppet Fighter followed, doing another spin once I was in range. I hopped out of the way. Pulling the Fire Flower out again, I sprayed another burst of fire.

The flames connected with the Blue Bomber, leading to him backpedaling to avoid them. Weird, since he's, y'know, a robot. And made of metal.

Anyway, I followed, continuing to shoot fire. Mega Man jumped, trying to get over me. I took out the Steel Diver with my free hand and shot upward.

Speeding through the air, the torpedo collided and Mega Man fell to the ground. I tucked the items in hand away and held my hands out.

Death's Scythe clanged to the ground behind me.

I turned and walked over to the item, picking it up with a flourish. Spinning the scythe, I smoke-dashed as Mega Man began to charge his arm cannon. Reforming in front of him, I kicked him away and, with a spin of the scythe, severed the Puppet Fighter's head from his body.

"Finally. That fight felt like it took weeks to finish," I said, capturing the spirit with the controller. The fighter also dropped something else besides the spirit. It was another Zapfish.

I picked the fish up. " _Hey! Are we making sushi!"_

"BOLOGNA AND SWISS CHEESE OBLIVION!" I dropped the fish and leapt back. Breathing a sigh of relief, "Geez, I thought you were giving me the silent treatment."

" _That was my original plan but it got boring. At least you found an interesting place."_

"Yeah, there's a Smasher Statue next to whatever that is." I gestured to the giant machine.

" _I think it's some sort of generator."_

I picked up the fish and walked over to the next Power Panel. Setting the fish down, a bridge connected my platform to the next.

Crossing over, I found the next fight quickly.

"Oh god!" I cried out. "That's so adorable!"

Before me was a yellow dog dressed in a cardigan and skirt stood on its back legs. The dog seemed to be cartoonish, like Villager, and had its hair up into a ponytail.

"I wanna pet it!" I shouted, running over to the dog.

" _Nathaniel, are you kidding me?"_ I ignored Oblivion as I ran up to the dog.

"It looks so fluffy!" I reached a hand to pet the dog's head.

I got interrupted by several slashes to my side. Rolling away, I withdrew Death's Scythe, only to get hit by a slingshot pellet.

"You traitor!" The little dog held a slingshot in hand. Next to it, was a something that vaguely reminded me of Kirby. It had the same round shape and the feet looked similar. That was it though. It was made of metal, had bat wings, a mask and noodle arms that held a sword.

The Metal, Bat-Swordsman, thing. Metal Batblob? Bat Sword Kirby? Regardless, it flew towards me, sword stretched out. I swung, with the blob ducking beath. It slashed several times at my legs.

I fell to my knees before trying another swing. Bat Kirby sped out of range. I stepped forward to chase after it but something snagged onto the back of my collar.

It dragged me back before I got thrown into the air. I twisted, with Bat Kirby jumping up after me. Aiming carefully, I kicked the metal foe, hitting it into the dog.

They slid back as I landed. Dashing forward, I slashed both of them. Bat Kirby got back to its feet and jumped forward to cut at me again.

Bringing the shaft of my scythe up, I knocked it away before turning my attention to the dog. It brought out a squeaky hammer and ran at me. I jabbed, pushing the pooch back and followed with a wide swing.

As the dog flew away, Bat Kirby returned with a vengeance, spinning like a drill towards me. I jumped forward, rolling into a smoke dash.

Only, the dash didn't work and I got skewered by the sword drill. Bat Kirby stopped drilling as it ran out of momentum, instead moving into a spin, creating a mini-tornado. I got caught in it, receiving dozens of more slashes.

After a few more seconds of pain, the tornado ran out of energy and Bat Kirby slowed down. I kicked it away and followed with a slash. Making contact, the swordsblob skidded towards the edge of the platform.

Before I could push Bat Kirby over the edge, I got hit by another slingshot pellet. I turned to face the source, only to receive several slashes across my back.

I fell onto my back, before rolling to avoid another sword swing. The dog swung a fishing rod out to hook onto me as I got back to my feet. I did a smoke dash to avoid the hook.

Normally, when I do the smoke dash, I dash forward or to the side to get closer to the enemy. I decided to mix it up. I dashed up into the air.

As I reached the peak of my dash, a rainbow aura covered me. " _Doomed Defense Super Saw!"_

The aura turned a sickly shade of purple as it was transferred to my scythe. Taking aim, I threw it, the energy making it spin into a wheel of carnage along its path. Sadly, the dog was the first in the attacks path, the wheel shredding it to pieces.

I braced my feet and used my double jump, landing behind Bat Kirby. My hand shot out, grabbing onto it by the wings. Like a boomerang, the wheel reversed course, coming back towards me. I kicked the metal fighter into the wheel; like the dog, this one was shredded as well, releasing the Spirit.

Stretching out my hand, I caught the scythe. Doing a spin as I put it away, I wondered out loud, "Why don't I use this more?"

" _My thoughts exactly,"_ Oblivion said. " _It even has that snazzy insta-kill feature!"_

The Puppet Fighters this time also dropped another Zapfish, which I promptly tossed onto another Power Panel. Another bridge rose up, granting access to the generator and, more importantly, the Smasher Statue.

"Wheel of smashers, spin round and round. Let's see which Smasher I'll face, um, shoot. Oblivion, do you know anything that rhymes with round."

" _Ground?"_

"How helpful Oblivion." I said, walking up to the Statue. I pulled out Death's Scythe and read the nameplate:

 **Smasher No. 19**

 **Pichu**

"Doesn't Pichu sound kind of like Pikachu?"

" _I think that's because Pichu evolves into Pikachu,"_ Oblivion answered.

"So that means their moves are similar. Got it." I tapped the nameplate and steadied myself for the fight. The Pokemon that popped out of the Statue looked like a smaller Pikachu. Pichu's head seemed to be the same size as its body, with big triangular ears on top.

The Pokemon zoomed towards me, dashing on all fours. I jumped over, throwing out a kick as I landed. Pichu hopped onto my foot and started climbing.

"Get off!" I tried knocking the Pokemon off, only for the yellow mouse to climb onto my arm. It climbed around to my back, clinging on where I couldn't reach easily.

"Piiiiii _-chuuuuuuuuu!"_ Pichu began discharging thousands of volts of electricity throughout my body. I screamed, falling to the ground and trying to reach the Pokemon on my back.

Eventually, the electricity died down as I felt Pichu release its grip. I rolled back to my feet, falling to my knees a second after. Unfortunately, the electricity did a large amount of damage.

Pichu got back to its feet as well, but its eyes had turned into swirls as the Pokemon stood unsteadily.

"You getting tired too?" The Pokemon shook its head clear of the swirls and nodded. "Yeah, me too."

The Pokemon ended the small talk by shooting itself like a missile at me. Taking a step out of the way, I hit the Pokemon like a baseball, using the scythe as a bat. Making solid contact, Pichu was sent flying into the wall.

I ran to the Pokemon as it slid down the wall. In the middle of a scythe swing, Pichu called down lightning which hit both of us. I was knocked away from the Pokemon.

I hit the ground and slowly slid to a stop. Leaping back to my feet, I saw that Pichu was dazed again. "Using electricity hurts it?"

" _Yeah. Pichus haven't learned how to regulate their electricity so using it hurts them as well."_

"Oh." A thought occurred to me. "Doesn't this mean I'm beating up the equivalent of a toddler?"

" _Kind of. Pokemon evolution doesn't always correlate with age."_

"So does this mean that Crazy Hand and Master Hand regularly employ children to fight in their tournaments?"

" _Yep."_

I sighed, "Shouldn't that regulate some kind of labor law?"

" _Just wait a moment."_

"What do you mean?" Pichu launched another flying headbutt into my gut, sending my back against the wall.

" _That's what happens when you don't pay attention during a fight."_

"I got it," I wheezed as I pulled myself back to my feet. Pichu jumped into the air, covering itself with more electricity to tackle me with. I hefted Death's Scythe, whacking Pichu again into the air like a Pokemon shaped baseball.

Shifting my grip, I threw the scythe as Pichu landed. The blade connected with Pichu's head, cutting through and into the ground.

I threw myself onto the ground as the wall came down, calming my breathing down.

" _Stop being lazy and grab the stuff already."_ Oblivion chided.

"Alright, alright." Drudging to my feet, I picked up Death's Scythe and the Pichu amiibo. With a deep breath, I looked into Pichu's eyes.

* * *

" _I move this here and, no, that doesn't work." I was 9, sitting at the kitchen table and scratching away at math homework. I have been doing so for the past hour._

" _Nathan, calm down." It was my dad, sitting next to me. Normally, math wasn't a difficult subject for me but I was having trouble with one particular problem._

 _My dad started writing on the piece of scratch paper he was using. "Let's go over this again."_

" _Fine." I started writing the problem again. Then I stopped, "Are you kidding me."_

 _I made a quick adjustment to what I just wrote down. Following what else was in my math textbook, I finished solving the problem. The cause of what took me so long was that I added wrong at the second step._

" _There we go!" My dad said._

" _Alright. Fine." Some irritation crept into my voice. Unfortunately, my dad noticed it._

" _Nathaniel. You have such a short temper. You need to understand that no likes someone who gets angry all the time. When you get older, you'll realize that you can't push people away in your life. Humans are social creatures. You can't just live alone for the rest of your life with no social interaction. When you become an adult and go out into the real world, a lot of people will make you mad but you need to hold it in. You have to grow up into a responsible adult. When you become a father and have your own responsibilities, you'll understand more of what I mean. You always have a scowl on your face. You need to smile more. When you smile, you release endorphins. Do you know what endorphins are?"_

" _Yes Dad." My words slipped out without a thought at another on of Dad's tangents. I stopped listening and kept responding. Eventually, tangent ended as I walked to my room to plop at my desk._

" _Why does he always have to give lectures on stuff? He's not even a teacher." I asked my brother. We shared a bedroom and our sister got a separate bedroom. He was on his bed, counting Pokemon cards._

" _Grandma's a teacher though," My brother pointed out. "It's not like it matters. In 10 years, we're going to be adults. Then we can do whatever we want!"_

" _I'm gonna buy the large ice cream bowl when I'm an adult!" I declared._

 _My brother looked at me. "C'mon! Adults can do more than that!"_

" _Two large ice cream bowls?"_

" _Now you're getting somewhere!"_

 _I tossed the homework into my bag before jumping onto my brother's bed to look at Pokemon cards. Somehow, we had too many cards despite not knowing how to play._

* * *

Blinking a couple of times, I was back in the Power Plant. "Was I really that stupid?"

" _Apparently."_

Turning my attention to the massive generator before me, I asked, "Should I break this?"

" _What? Why!"_

"Because," I hefted my scythe and strode to the control panel, "it's a giant machine and an eyesore."

" _Those have to be the worst reasons that I have ever heard for doing something like that."_

"I'm not hearing no."

Oblivion sighed, clearly regretting several life choices. " _Why not activate it? Clarence was checking out the city, right? Maybe activating the generator will help him over there?"_

I sighed, taking a look at the control panel. Lots of colorful buttons and switches that I have no idea what they do. "Sure, let's see if I can turn this on without making it explode."

* * *

I stepped outside the Power Plant, shivering slightly at the cold, night air. "We should definitely head back to the Dojo. Crazy and Clarence are probably there already."

" _You're not going to explore the rest of the forest?"_

"Why? We could check out the rest of the forest later." I pointed out.

" _I guess."_ I continued in silence for a few moments before Oblivion spoke up again. " _What do you think is going on in your world?"_

I stopped, "What do you mean by that?"

" _Well, from your recovered memories, you clearly have immediate family. Two parents, a sister and a brother. It's also likely that your family is much bigger due to cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Just, what do you think they're doing in your world?"_

"Probably just what they always do." I resumed walking.

" _You don't think they're worried about you?"_

"I don't know. I hardly remember them."

" _I guess it would be hard for, what was that?"_

I stopped again, "Oblivion, what do you mean?"

" _Duck!"_

I did as the voice said. Just in time too, as a gunshot rang out. I turned my attention to the closest tree. A smoking bullet had appeared in the bark, right where my head used to be.

A figure flipped out from the shadows, landing in front of me. A teenager with curly, dark hair, a black trenchcoat, and a black and white mask which covered his eyes. More importantly, he was armed with a knife and a handgun, the latter of which was pointed at me.

I smoke dashed to the side as he opened fire. Digging through my inventory as I tried to avoid his gunfire, I swore. The Steel Diver sucks, the Fire Flower doesn't have enough range, I don't know what the flag does, and Death's Scythe is my only melee weapon.

Doing another smoke dash to get closer, I swung with the scythe. Holding the knife in a reverse grip, he blocked the scythe, locking our weapons together. We began a staredown, looking for cracks in the other. Then it hit me.

This guy had black eyes. Puppet Fighters have red glowy eyes of death.

My grip faltered, which Gun Nut picked up on. He gave a quick shove, which he followed with a slash to knock me away.

"Who are you!"

"Who we are is none of your business." The voice came from behind me. Before I could turn, something hit the back of my head, hard. Everything went black.

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?)**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Steel Diver, Death's Scythe, Fire Flower, Special Flag**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Peach, Bowser, Pichu, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Nathaniel: *stretches* Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?**

 **Crazy: Was it turning off the oven?**

 **Nathaniel: I don't even have an oven.**

 **Clarence: Was it washing the dishes?**

 **Nathaniel: No, it's not my turn yet. What's today's date?**

 **Crazy: The 19th of May.**

 **Nathaniel: Does this mean we left MG tied up for over a month?**

 **Crazy: Yep.**

 **Nathaniel: And no one fed him?**

 **Clarence: No.**

 **Nathaniel: Great.**

 ***Theater goes dark. Someone screams (Probably Nathaniel).***

 **?: This is Joker. I've infiltrated the theater.**


	22. Chapter 22:Flower Power

**Author's Note: Well, I managed to get another chapter out before May ended so that's good. A thing I should tell you guys is that I am going to be graduating from high school in a couple of weeks. Then it'll be summer before college in September. Does that mean the next chapter will come out sooner? I'm not sure. I 'll be interning over the summer so I'm not sure how it'll affect uploads. We'll just have to see.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Elysium: Yes, this has returned. Also, I am really sorry that I forgot to respond to your review for Chapter 20. I guess I missed it while doing last chapter's responses. So, about Dharkon not being referred to as the Lord of Darkness in-game, I actually didn't realize it so I guess it will just be canon for this fic that this will be his title. I just feel like Embodiment of Chaos and Darkness is overkill.**

 **Defender31415: Thanks! Glad to hear you liked the ending! I was watching the Game Awards where they teased Joker and I immediately knew that I wanted to do that for an Author's Theater!**

* * *

 **Chapter 22: Flower Power**

" _I say we kill them."_

" _Markus, really? We can't just kill people because they inconvenience you." Master Hand walked next to Markus. His clothes had changed, making him look more medieval. I guess he was trying to blend since it looked like we were in a medieval marketplace._

" _The toll to enter was 3 gold M.H. I saw the people who entered before us only give them one gold. Those guards clearly hiked the price on us because we're foreigners." Markus complained. He wore another cloak with his face obscured. However, this cloak was a forest green._

" _Doesn't mean we can kill them."_

" _At least let me maim them."_

" _Do I need to send you to yoga again?" Master Hand questioned._

" _I'll be honest, the yoga instructor was pretty attractive. You sending me there would more likely be a positive in my book." Markus admitted. "Anyway, why are we here again? You were vague on the details."_

" _Simple. There's an auction. We are here to scope it out before the auction begins tonight."_

" _Great," Markus sighed. "What? Are we after another artifact of great power that's gonna be another sham? I'm tired of all these so-called world ending magic artifacts that do less than a Magikarp. At least Magikarps can be raised for jumping contests."_

" _No, we're not after items this time." Master Hand stopped and waved Markus into an alleyway. Following quickly, I caught up as the two stopped at the end of the alleyway, staring at two guys from around the corner._

 _Both of them were ripped with muscle and stood about 6 feet tall each. They looked like twins, with bald heads, identical eyebrows and giant axes at their sides._

" _I'm guessing those are guards," Markus whispered, gesturing to the cellar door that was between the two. "What next?"_

" _Knock them out. 10 minutes."_

" _You got it." Markus held out his right hand, staring at it. Dark energy began to seep out of his hand, turning a toxic shade of purple, almost black. The energy thickened, sticking to his hand but also seeming to want to drip off, as if he stuck his hand into liquid soap._

 _Hiding his hand behind his back, Markus approached the two casually, humming a pleasant tune. He gave a cheerful wave, "Hello! How are you two fine fellows on a day like this doing?"_

 _Bald guard guy #1 pointed his axe at the approaching cloaked man. "Don't come any closer."_

" _Oh come on. Why-" Markus cut himself off, bursting into smoke and reforming in front of the guard. He gave a quick jab with his right to the guard's neck, moving to the next one and repeating the blow. After a moment, both guards dropped like bricks._

 _Shaking his hand, the energy dissipated from Markus's hand and he waved Master Hand over._

" _You're sure they're only knocked out, right?" Master Hand gave a grudge a light nudge, eliciting a groan._

" _I am just shocked by your lack of faith in me."_

" _Can you blame me? I've seen you kill a man twice your size with that move."_

 _Markus answered with a shrug, before throwing the cellar door open and peered into the darkness within. "Got a light?"_

 _Master Hand responded with a snap, creating a ball of light that floated just above his hand. "Ready?"_

 _They jumped in. I followed as fast as I could in my ghost body._

* * *

"Ow." I woke up, with my head in pain. Instinctively, I tried to feel my head. "Huh?"

I couldn't move my heads. I cracked my eyes open to a campfire. As well as being tied to a tree. My arms were tied behind me. I wiggled to see if the ropes had any slack. Nope.

"I see you're up." It was Gun Nut. He sat on the opposite side of the fire, twirling his knife absentmindedly. "Mind telling me your name?"

"So you just attack a guy without knowing his name? At least buy the guy some dinner first." I replied. "Why does telling you my name matter?"

"We're trying to figure out what Galeem wants with you. It would be nice to know your name instead of calling you, "that guy"." Gun Nut threw some wood on the fire, before continuing. "My codename is Joker by the way."

"Codename? What, are you a secret agent?" I fidgeted, trying to scratch an itch.

"No, I'm a phantom thief. We already checked you for weapons so don't bother trying to escape."

"Who the fudgepops do you mean by we?" I tried to do a death glare, then winced as my head throbbed again.

" _Stop making conversation with him! He's the bad guy!"_ Oblivion screamed, making my head hurt worse.

"Shut up Oblivion."

" _You could leave anytime you want! Smoke dash, remember?"_

"Oh yeah." I smoke dashed, passing through the ropes and in front of Joker. He flipped back, leveling his gun to my face.

"Last time we fought, I beat you and you still want to fight."

I shrugged, "To be honest, I kinda want to scratch an itch on my back. And you tied me to a tree."

I smoke dashed to get closer, giving Joker a kick to the gut. He hit the ground and rolled to his feet, firing several shots in the process.

I shielded against the bullets. Jumping out of shield, I aimed a kick at Joker's head as I fell. He threw his hand out, and a wire shot from his hand

It hooked onto me and Joker yanked on it, pulling me towards him. He slammed me to the ground and kicked me away.

My hand hit a familiar object as I fell. Gripping the shaft, I swung Death's Scythe at Joker. He jumped over, kicking me in the face as he landed. Rolling back, I swapped the scythe for the Steel Diver.

"Haven't used this in forever." I fired a torpedo at Joker. The thief put his hand to his mask and blue flames covered him. The torpedo blew up against the flames, dealing no damage.

He undid the move, staring at me, "Did you just pull that out of thin air?"

"It's called inventory my dear Joker." I took aim and fired again as Joker did the same move.

After the blue flames dispersed, Joker took off his mask and shouted, " **Persona! Come, Arsene!"**

The mask disappeared into blue flames and a figure appeared behind Joker. Demon-like, the figure had black wings, a red suit, a top hat, chains and loomed several inches off the ground.

I stepped back from the figure's sudden appearance, "Is that a demon?"

Joker gave a smirk, "Maybe."

He dashed forward, the demon following. I switched items to Death's Scythe. I swung and Joker gave a kick at the same time. Our attacks cancelled each out. But I forgot about Mr. Demon. He mimicked Joker's attack perfectly, with his kick landing and launching me away.

I slammed into a tree. Reorienting myself, I tried to block a knife swing. Like the kick, the demon followed Joker's movements, throwing out it's own swing.

The swing landed and my back slammed into the tree, prompting protests from the wood. Joker did another kick that Mr. Demon followed. Both of the kick landed a solid hit on my chest. The tree behind me groaned, and then broke as I was launched through the tree.

* * *

" _I say we kill them."_

" _Markus, calm-"_

" _Don't tell me to calm down!" Markus turned to Master Hand, fury written across his face. "Why shouldn't I burn this entire place to the ground!"_

 _I heard whimpering as Markus shouted. Looking around the cellar we were in, I found the source. The cellar looked like a jail, with cells lining the walls. Inside, people were chained to the walls. But people wasn't completely accurate._

 _I saw Toads, Pokemon, little blobs that looked like Kirby but were orange and tan, people that had blue crystals in their chest and all varieties of shapes and sizes._

" _The auction you mentioned deals in slaves," Markus shouted, "People from other worlds and held here against their will to do labor and other things. And you're telling me that we can't free them?"_

" _Because it's more complicated than that," Master Hand began, trying to placate Markus, who cut him off again._

" _Then uncomplicate it M.H."_

 _Master Hand sighed. There was a table in the middle of the room and he pulled out a chair to sit in. "Do you remember the Hydra?"_

 _Markus scowled and sat across from Master Hand, "Yeah. Kept regenerating it's heads and almost took my arm. Why?"_

" _This entire slave operation is like a hyrda. If we stop the slavers here, the people who supply the slaves are just gonna pay someone else to sell them. Cutting a head off here is going to be pointless in the long run."_

" _So, you just want to leave these people to whatever fate they'll have as slaves. Because you don't want to mess the chance of finding the mastermind of the slave operation," Markus said through gritted teeth. He seemed to have calmed a little, staring at the table._

" _Yes and no." Markus's head shot up at Master Hand's words. He elaborated further. "The purpose of this was to verify if these people were in fact from other worlds. We have verified that. Now, we wait for the auction. We break them out then. Or rather, you and Crazy will."_

" _Us? Why?"_

" _Because I will pose as someone who is looking to get into the business. I'll use this opportunity to get into the mastermind's hood graces by providing slaves who, are in actually spies. We kill the operation this way." Master Hand gave a small smile. "Besides, I'm sure you're itching to fight."_

" _As long as you don't mess up." Markus rose and moved to exit. "C'mon. The poison is going to wear off on the guards."_

* * *

I woke up again. Again, I was tied to a tree. "Corn cobs, my head hurts."

"Joker did send you through a tree after all."

I turned to the source of the voice. A girl. Probably a teenager. A head shorter than me with brown hair, that ran down to her shoulder blades. She wore a gray bodysuit with an orange-yellow jacket over it. On her right arm, she had a gunmetal arm cannon, that glowed with a neon blue light. "Oh, so you're the we Joker mentioned."

She had a panel open in the arm cannon and was sticking a screwdriver inside. After a few twists, she shut panel and walked over to me. "Why does Galeem care so much about you?"

"Excuse me?"

Cannon Girl scowled, "I am asking why Galeem, a god in all rights, wants us, Joker and I, to capture you, some guy who got his ass handed to him, and quite easily I might add."

"Did Galeem mention anyone else?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Does it matter?"

I decided to switch the subject, "Y'know where is Joker? I don't see him anywhere."

"Answer my question."

"Why? Does the answer really matter that much?"

"That's for me to decide. So, what's the answer?" She crossed her arms. "I'm just asking if you have any allies. Galeem didn't ask us to grab them so we won't go after them."

"Well, why are you doing what Galeem says?"

"Answer my question first."

I sighed, "Yes. I have no idea where they are though."

Her mouth twitched, "We're doing what he says because he can send us home. That's all there is to it."

" _That sorta sounded like what Clarence said."_

"Lemme guess, you heard a voice calling itself Master Hand in a dream. Master Hand asked for help and you accepted."

Her eyes widened, "How did you know that?"

"I have my sources," I said, with some pride in my voice. "Untie me so we could negotiate this like civilized people."

She shook her head. "Nope. Galeem still wants you for some reason. Until I find out that reason, you're not going anyway."

"Look, one of my friends, she can explain what's going on." I fidgeted a bit as my leg began to cramp. "Master Hand is her brother and Galeem is someone you do not want to work for."

"How exactly is he not someone I want to work for?"

"Well, he already killed more than several dozen people and he wants to throw all of the worlds together into a pot and make a world stew."

"One: I have also killed several dozen people. Two: I have worked for people in the past who has done more than that. Three: If Galeem can do what you say, why would I not want to be on the winning side?" She gave a smirk. "That's just how the world works. The strong are at the top and thrive while the weak die. Working for the strong increases my odds of living."

Opening my mouth to respond, I instead shut it as I heard someone crashing through the trees. The girl turned to the source of the noise, leaving her back wide open. I smoke dashed again, giving her back a solid kick, "You would think that you would find some kind of counter to that, y'know?"

She responded by pointing the arm cannon at me and firing a green laser. I ducked out of the way and ran to the source of the noise. The girl didn't seem to be expecting the commotion so it could be someone I know.

Sadly, no.

I almost ran into Joker. "Shiitake mushrooms!" I shouted, trying to stop my momentum.

"You!" Joker helped to stop the collision by jumping over me.

"Yes, it's me. Good to see that you don't have your demon friend with you." My eyes flicked over to the girl before back to Joker. She was coming up next to him. So they're on a team? That makes it 2-on-1.

" _I'm here! It should be 2-on-2!"_

"Oblivion, you're a voice. You don't count," I muttered. My chances weren't too good. Worst yet, I forgot to grab my scythe before running so it was still at their camp.

"Joker, what was that noise all about?" The girl hissed in a whisper that I barely heard.

Joker muttered something back that I didn't catch. Thankfully, I didn't need to.

I heard that clatter of a pot run up beside me and a familiar teethed plant jumped in front of me. Piranha Plant stretched its neck out from the pot, reaching impossibly far and trying to take a bite out of the duo standing before us.

"Piranha Plant?" The plant turned to me, vigorously nodding its head. "Y'know what?" I said. "I'll just ask how you're here later."

* * *

 **Piranha Plant joined your party!**

* * *

I pulled out the Steel Diver and fired a torpedo each at Joker and Cannon Girl. The torpedoes landed on their targets, blowing the two away.

Joker recovered by grabbing a tree while in midair, using that to swing back to the ground. Cannon Girl was thrown into some bushes, taking a moment to pull herself back up. She fired another laser at us.

I moved behind a tree while Piranha Plant ducked. Peeking out, I fired several more torpedoes while Piranha Plant charged at Joker. They began to exchange blows while Cannon Girl and I started taking potshots at each other.

I jumped to another tree, firing a torpedo at the same time she fired another laser. The projectiles collided in an explosion. I crouched, firing a torpedo at ankle height towards her.

My enemy ducked behind a tree. Taking aim, I let out a barrage of torpedoes into the tree, making the wood crack with each shot.

Just before the tree broke apart completely, Cannon Girl stepped out from behind and fired a giant green energy shot. I tried to cancel the shot with a torpedo but the blast did nothing. The energy ball collided with me and threw me to the ground.

I got to my feet, the area around me lit up in a rainbow light. My Final Smash was ready.

Several chomps of teeth got my attention. Piranha Plant was barely dodging Joker's knife. Once it saw me looking, it gestured to the air above.

"I don't speak plant!"

Piranha Plant knocked Joker away using the pot. Chewing a bit, Piranha Plant tilted its head up and spat out a spike ball, keeping it aloft by blowing on it.

"I think I got it." I fired a torpedo at the spike ball, with the resulting explosion shooting the ball into Joker. Joker was knocked into Cannon Girl from the blow. "Let's start! _Super Shooting: Shark Subs!"_

Firing into the ground again, the torpedoes raced towards the two. Timing the projectiles, I snapped, just in time for a shark to burst from the ground and chomp into Joker and Cannon Girl. The shark exploded, blasting the two away.

"Hi five!" I held a hand up which Piranha Plant smacked with a leaf. Then a light caught my eye. "Oh donuts."

Slowly, Cannon Girl rose from the ground, glowing a rainbow aura. Her Final Smash was ready.

Two drones flew out out from behind her and began to orbit around her cannon. The rainbow aura began to condense itself around her cannon, which she aimed at us.

" _Full Blast."_ She muttered, firing a massive green beam of energy from her cannon. Each of the drones fired an orange beam, with all three aimed at Piranha Plant and I.

The plant jumped away while I ran to the side. The beams carved a path through the forest, cutting down trees and bushes while slowly drifting towards me. "Great. So I'm the one she goes for."

The beams were slowly catching up to me. The sounds of falling trees grew closer. I jumped into the air, then jumped again to outpace the beam. I began to fall and the beams began to move upward towards me. Taking a deep breath as I fell, I smoke dashed midair, changing my momentum towards Piranha Plant.

I crashed into the ground next to the plant. Picking my face up, I saw that Cannon Girl fell to her knees, exhausted from the Final Smash.

" _We could finish them off now,"_ Oblivion said.

I turned to Piranha Plant. I didn't notice it earlier, but the plant seemed wiped of energy and was covered in scratches. It might have been fighting Joker before it found me which explains why there were so many.

"No," I said. "I don't think we can fight any more than those two can. Let's head back to the Dojo."

I tapped the plant and pointed away from Cannon Girl and Joker. Piranha Plant nodded and we took off, leaving the decimated forest behind.

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Piranha Plant**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Steel Diver, Fire Flower, Special Flag**

 **Piranha Plant- None**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Peach, Bowser, Pichu, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Yeah, sorry. No Author's Theater today. Instead, I got a question to ask you guys. If you already noticed, I didn't give the new character's name. I just called her Cannon Girl which seems kinda mean in hindsight. So, the question is just what should I name her? I'm just asking for suggestions so I might just give her a name I thought of on my own. This kinda sums it up, see you guys next chapter!**


	23. Chapter 23: The Party is Back Together

**Author's Note:**

 **Guess who has two thumbs, a high school diploma, and amazing time management skills! Not me. I was hoping to get this chapter out over the weekend but I didn't finish it in time.**

 **Anyway, thanks to everyone who suggested a name for Cannon Girl. Since she won't be showing up for a while, you guys won't see the name I picked soon.**

 **Also, I didn't pay too much attention during E3 besides Nintendo's Direct. My thoughts: the guy's name is literally, The Hero. I'm just sitting here, trying to figure out how to write the guy and his three alts in since I know almost nothing about Dragon Quest! And for Banjo-Kazooie, admittedly, I don't care too much since I never interacted with the series but I know that a lot of people are excited for them.**

 **One more note before we start the chapter, this is the first time that I'm uploading from my phone so there might be some issues compared to how I usually write.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Elysium: They have canon names? I am so confused right now. Also, it's nice to see that you're coming up with theories on who Oblivion is. Maybe you're wrong, maybe you're right. Also, thanks for telling me about TvTropes! That's one thing off my bucket list!**

 **Bubblenyan: Those are cool names. Have a nice day to you too!**

 **Cookie 2000: That's an interesting name. I'll add those two fighters in when they get released so I'll keep an eye out!**

* * *

 **Chapter 23: The Party is Back Together**

 **Crazy joined your party**

 **Clarence joined you party**

"You what!" Crazy slammed her hand onto the table, knocking over her chair.

"Crazy, please. It's not that bad." I stepped back, raising my hands. I looked over to Clarence for help. The knight was at the table next to Crazy, calmly sipping tea. Upon catching my eyes, he gave a shrug before focusing on his hot leaf juice.

Thanks a lot man.

"You. Lost. MY. BEAM SWORD. THE BEAM SWORD. THAT I. LET YOU. BORROW." Crazy began jabbing her finger into my chest, emphasizing each word she said.

"Why are you so focused on the Beam Sword?" I said. "I lost the Boomerang and you didn't get this angry."

"THAT'S BECAUSE IT WAS A BOOMERANG, NATHANIEL," she took another step closer, sticking her face into mine. "THE BEAM SWORD IS A FEAT OF TECHNOLOGICAL ENGINEERING. HAVE YOU EVER MADE A BEAM SWORD?"

"No?"

"EXACTLY!"

"How much did the sword even cost to buy?" I asked, leaning away from Crazy.

"Honestly, not that much." Crazy's anger deflated impossibly fast. In the calmest of fashions, she went back to her chair and sat down. "I'm just mad that you lost my stuff."

"WHY DOES THAT MATTER? I could have died!"

"Because," she locked eyes with me, giving me a look that would slay armies, "it's my stuff."

Piranha Plant and I managed to make it back to Honey Queen's Dojo without getting into anymore fights which was good. Crazy and Clarence have already waited an entire day for me there. While telling them what happened, Crazy flipped out on me.

"Anyway," I said, continuing with what happened. "I got Pichu's amiibo and turned on the generator in the Power Plant. After that, I got kidnapped whe-"

"By who!" Crazy shot up again.

"Weren't you just obsessed with me losing your stuff earlier?" She answered with a glare. "Okay okay, um. I only got one of their names. The first guy's name was Joker and then there was a Cannon Girl but I didn't get her name."

"Joker? Black haired guy, dressed in mostly black, white mask, red gloves, pretty good looking?"

"Good looking? Not sure about that but otherwise yeah."

Sighing, Crazy threw her face into her hands. "What god did I piss off to get this?"

"Excuse me? I get that I've been asking a lot of questions so far but what do you mean by that?"

Crazy waved my question aside. "Just tell us what happened next."

"Well," I said, continuing my story. "I woke up tied to a tree. They said something about Galeem wanting me for some reason and they wanted to learn what it was. I have no idea what they were talking about. That's when Piranha Plant showed up and helped me escaped. I did forget the scythe though."

"So, this strange plant is not some creature that you brought back because you thought it was cute," Clarence said with a wave of the mug at the aforementioned plant. Piranha Plant gave a wave of a leaf before resuming its feast of spinach.

"No. I prefer to think that it's a friend and not some creature that I'm holding captive against its will."

Clarence turned his attention to Crazy, "Ms. Crazy, doesn't this contradict what you told me earlier?"

She nodded, "It does somewhat. I'm still trying to figure out why."

"If what you said earlier is true, this plant could be explained as an oversight but the two who kidnapped Nathaniel? Maybe Galeem brought them here."

"What are you two talking about?" I butted into the two's conversation. "What did Crazy tell you Clarence?"

He turned back to me, "During the time I was away from you and Crazy, I saw no wildlife. No wild animals and the town was devoid of life beyond the Puppet Fighters. I questioned her about why. Galeem turned all sentient life into Spirits and is using those Spirits as an energy source for the Puppet Fighters."

"Yeah. I knew that. And then we have Dojo Masters and Shop owners who are not in Spirit form after we freed them because of how close we are to their location." I thought back to Crazy's explanation at Anna's Shop.

Clarence nodded, "So, now we have the emergence of three new people. The plant here, and then Joker and the so called Cannon Girl."

"Don't criticize me on my name choices you avocado."

Ignoring what I said, Clarence continued. "If all sentient life was turned into Spirits, how are these three not Spirits as well? I know that I am not because I was called to this world after Galeem fused it."

Crazy grimaced, "I wasn't caught in the fusion because I was searching for my brother. Thankfully, that meant I was out of range from being in the fusion."

The cliff I was on before all this started flashed through my mind. "I think the same applies to me, I was here after the fusion."

We all turned to look at Piranha Plant. The plant lifted its head enough to return the look. "So now," Crazy said. "The question is how did Piranha Plant survive?"

Piranha Plant opened its mouth and reached inside with a leaf. Digging around for a moment, the plant pulled out a drool covered letter that had a red wax seal, depicting a cross.

"I am not touching that." I said, taking a seat.

Crazy gave a long sigh, face in hand again. "So, that's what my brother meant."

"What do you mean?" Clarence asked as I tried to get Piranha Plant to put the letter back into its mouth. Instead, the plant was trying to hand me the letter.

"My brother, Master Hand, told me that he had a surprise fighter coming to this year's tournament. The only one he told me about was Joker but kept the other five a secret."

"Wait, so there's four other fighters out there?" I asked.

"Most likely. But that still leaves the Cannon Girl."

"Oh yeah." I turned to Clarence. "I think it was Chapter 14. You told me about a dream you had of Master Hand and he was asking for help."

The knight groaned, "Stop saying chapters as if this is some kind of book. And yes, that's how I got here. Someone named Master Hand asked me for help in a dream."

"Cannon Girl said that too."

"The bit about chapters or Master Hand?"

"Master Hand."

"Great," Crazy said. "My brother just makes things worse."

"What do you mean by that?" I turned back to Crazy. "Other than being controlled, he's not doing much at the moment."

"You mean other than being controlled and bringing people from other worlds into this mess," Crazy corrected. "He called Clarence here and now also, Cannon Girl. Who knows who else he summoned and, thanks to the lack of instructions, Galeem can manipulate them into doing what he wants."

Clarence narrowed his eyes, "Crazy, I think you're being harsh on your brother. He might not have had enough time to give us elaborate instructions."

Crazy gave him a stony glare, "He thought that putting lifelong enemies under the same roof was a good idea. It was considered a lucky day if there was less than three explosions or attempted murders before breakfast. Thankfully, we decided on a different housing system before the last tournament."

"Wait, how does that letter explain how Piranha Plant came here?" I asked, finally getting the plant to put the letter back into it's mouth.

"Simple," Crazy folded her arms. "The letters were designed to be keys that enabled multiversal travel. Either they were in mid-travel as the fusion occurred or the rest of the energy stored in the letter was used to protect the fighters from being turned into Spirits. Regardless, the letters are just fancy pieces of paper now."

I clapped my hands, "Well, what's next? Finish breakfast and then go back to kicking butt?"

Clarence answered, "We're going to the city. There were too many Puppet Fighters for me to deal with."

* * *

Finishing our food, we stepped outside the Dojo, only for a voice to stop us.

"Oh! Before the four of you leave," Honey Queen called, "I have some gifts for all of you."

"Oh really? Thank you!" I held my hands out, and got a pile of Beehives.

 **Item Acquired:**

 **Beehive x4**

"Are these Beehives?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes, of course!" Honey Queen answered joyfully.

"Filled with bees?"

"Er, yes. That's why they're called Beehives." The queen was a bit more hesitant now but still had a joyful demeanor.

"Bees that sting, buzz, and are a general bane of my existence?"

"Are you okay with bees?"

"Absolutely. This is an amazing gift. Thank you so much." I said, a smile breaking out on my face. "Hey Clarence! Want a beehive?"

He took a step back at my question, "As long as you don't throw it at me."

"Nevermind then."

"You were planning to throw it at me!" Clarence yelled. "What is wrong with you!"

Crazy ignored us, turning to Honey Queen. "Thanks for putting up with us Queeny."

"It is not a worry Crazy Hand. Best of luck to you in your quest."

We began heading south to the city, passing through a small town, traveling mainly in silence. I didn't talk mostly because the earlier conversation left me tired of talking. Crazy kept her attention on the path, Piranha Plant kept running ahead of us and then back and Clarence mainly kept to himself, but I saw him sneak looks at me out of the corner of my eye.

I turned to ask him why he kept looking at me, but a familiar ape landed in front of me.

"Oh cheesecakes." Donkey Kong threw out a punch, hitting me in the chest and I flew back. I twisted in the air, landing on my feet. Donkey Kong chased me after me. I jumped, using his head to get more air.

I landed behind the ape, pulling out my Beam Sword. "Perfect. I forgot. Lost that one."

DK slapped the ground, sending out a shockwave that threw me into the air. I tried to regain my bearings, only for DK to jump after me. He clasped his hands together, bringing them down on my back and slamming my body to the ground.

My hands were barely steady, but I brought myself to my knees. Bringing my head up, DK was about to stomp on me. I shielded, trying to block the foot.

A spike ball flew out from behind me, knocking into DK moments before his attack landed. Piranha Plant jumped over me and slammed its pot into DK.

While Piranha Plant fought Donkey Kong, I turned to see what was occupying Crazy and Clarence's attention. They were fighting a pair of kids with hammers and parkas as well as a Lucario that was entirely gold for some reason. I think it's a shiny?

Yeah, I think I'll just gang up on ape with the plant.

I pulled out the Steel Diver and fired a shot. Piranha Plant jumped, letting the torpedo hit DK squarely in the forehead. The plant fell to the ground, chewing something.

I ran forward, with the plant giving me a boost as I jumped. Aiming, I landed on DK's head, giving a crashing stomp before jumping again. Twisting my body in midair, I fired another torpedo, blasting DK into Piranha Plant.

The plant spewed out a purple gas from its mouth at the ape as it landed. Apparently, the gas was poison. DK flailed a bit before falling to the ground and exploding into smoke.

"Oh," I said. "Is making the enemy explode normal for that move?"

The plant put a leaf to its chin before shrugging. Okay, don't make the plant mad.

A familiar swordsman was thrown into the plant knocking it away. "I'm guessing you guys aren't doing so well."

"No thanks to you," Clarence replied as he picked himself off the ground. I turned, just in time for Crazy to get thrown into me.

"I am starting to hate Lucario," Crazy muttered as she got off me.

I lifted my head to see that while the twins were defeated, the Gold Lucario was still there. And was on fire with lots of aura.

"Do we have a plan?" I asked.

"Hit it until it dies?" Clarence suggested.

"Blow it up." Crazy said, hefting a Bob-omb in one hand and her Staff in the other.

Piranha Plant just made a bunch of chomping noises.

"Let's go with all of the above."

Crazy and I fired into the Aura Pokemon at the same time, with both shots landing. Sadly, Lucario barely flinched.

Clarence dashed ahead with Piranha Plant following close behind. He swung his blade at the gold Pokemon, aiming for the neck. Lucario moved out of the blade's path before slamming a fist into Clarence's side.

As Clarence flew back, Piranha Plant spewed the poisonous gas into Lucario's face. The Pokemon ignored that as well, kicking the plant back.

I jumped, catching Clarence as he flew through the air. After a quick thanks, he jumped to the ground as I fired another torpedo. It blew up in another useless explosion.

Clarence spun, swinging his blade and sent out a small tornado that flew into Lucario, launching it into the air. Setting the Bob-omb on the ground, Crazy wielded the Staff like a golf club and shouted, "Fore!"

She swung the Staff, hit the Bob-omb and it flew through the air, colliding with Lucario in an explosion.

"As long as we don't say, 'I think that killed him,' or anything like that, we should be good." I said.

Lucario dropped out of the smoke. Crazy and Clarence decided to take a moment to glare at me before we charged back the Pokemon.

Clarence dashed forward, sword aimed at Lucario and covered in a flaming blue aura. Lucario vanished as the blade struck him, reappearing behind Clarence and gave him a kick.

I jumped, aiming with a kick at Lucario's head. The Pokemon jumped above me and struck me with a hand, sending me into the ground.

Crazy threw a Deku Nut at Lucario. Catching it, Lucario threw the nut at Crazy. In a flash of light, Crazy was stunned which Lucario used as an opportunity to slam a palm into her stomach and sending her flying.

Piranha Plant landed behind Lucario and swung its head, now black and covered with spikes into Lucario's back. The Pokemon sidestepped the swing and slammed its palm into Piranha Plant, only to miss. The plant had withdrawn its head into the pot, dodging the strike. Tilting the pot, Piranha Plant's head shot out, taking a bite out of Lucario.

The Pokemon fell back, collapsing into smoke and releasing the Spirit.

"Finally," I groaned. "Can we just make camp and make it to the city tomorrow? I'm in a lot of pain."

"Seconded," Clarence called out.

* * *

We made camp and decided to recover from the sudden fight while Crazy explained why Lucario was gold.

"Normally, becoming a Gold Fighter is not something that a Fighter can get normally. It requires a Xerneas from a Pokeball or collecting 100 coins on the Gold Plains stage."

"Weah, sho?" I asked.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Crazy said.

I swallowed my sandwich before repeating, "Yeah, so? Galeem probably did it."

"True," Clarence said. He turned to Crazy, "What does being gold entail? Galeem might send more Gold Fighters after us."

"It means that the fighter is stronger and has Super Armor so not many attacks can make them flinch."

"Cool. I want it."

Crazy ignored my comment before continuing, "I don't think Galeem will send more. He probably just made a couple as experiments since that was the first one we've seen. Besides, if he was sending more after us, he wouldn't have gotten Cannon Girl and Joker to fight us."

"That fight with them wasn't the best," I admitted. "So what are we going to do about them?"

"If, well, when we meet them again, we'll just have to explain the situation to them," Crazy said.

"Talking may not be the best solution," Clarence pointed out. "If they refuse to listen to what we have to say, then we may have to resort to violence."

"Then violence we shall resort to," Crazy answered. She turned to me, "I forgot to give you some stuff when we were at the Dojo."

She looked through her pockets and pulled something out. Giving a nod to Clarence, she and the knight both tossed some items to me. They were amiibo.

 **Smasher No. 12**

 **Jigglypuff**

 **Smasher No. 18**

 **Dr. Mario**

Crazy walked over to her tent. "I'm heading to bed. You boys better not peek in on me."

She ducked into her tent and we soon heard a light snoring coming from within.

"Today sure had been something," I said, staring at Piranha Plant. The plant had been quick to fall asleep. Unsurprisingly, as it hadn't got any rest since the fight with Cannon Girl and Joker. I turned my head to see that Clarence was staring. "What?"

"Earlier, at the Dojo," The knight began, "when we were talking about how we all managed to survive the world merge, you said that you arrived after it happened."

"Yeah, so?"

He looked me in the eyes, "How did you get here?"

I took a moment to think of an answer. Didn't Oblivion say that he was the reason I was here?

 _"Don't tell him about me!"_ Oblivion cried out.

"Why not?" I thought back.

 _"Because then he'll clearly tell Crazy. Either because he believes you and wants to make sure that Crazy is on the same page or because he doesn't and thinks you're insane!"_

"I'm not insane. I'm bananas."

 _"Take this seriously!"_

"I'm just joking."

"I'm not sure how I got here," I told Clarence. "Crazy doesn't know either. Maybe I'm here because of Master Hand like you but I don't remember since, y'know, amnesia."

Clarence was silent, before finally saying, "Maybe."

I shrugged, turning over to my sleeping bag and shut my eyes. Before sleep could overtake me, Oblivion piped up.

 _"You didn't recover any memories from those amiibos, right?"_

"Nope. Just like Bowser's amiibo."

 _"Have you figured out why? It'd be nice to know more about who you were."_

"I think I know why," I thought. "It's because I wasn't the one to awaken the Smashers."

 _"I don't follow."_

"Clarence defeated Giga Bowser at the fortress but I didn't get a memory from Bowser's amiibo. Now, there's Jigglypuff and Dr. Mario's amiibo, defeated by Crazy and Clarence respectively. No memory. I'm starting to see a pattern develop."

 _"What are you going to do about it?"_

I sighed, "I'm not sure."

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy, Clarence, Piranha Plant**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Steel Diver, Fire Flower, Special Flag, Beehive x4**

 **Crazy Hand- Staff, Deku Nuts, Green Shell, Bob-omb, Bombchu x3, Smart Bomb**

 **Clarence-None**

 **Piranha Plant- None**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Peach, Bowser, Dr. Mario, Pichu, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Crazy: What are you working on MG?**

 **MG: The Hero from Dragon Quest.**

 **Nathaniel: Which one? The Nintendo Direct showcased the guy has like, three alts.**

 **MG: That's the problem. How do I justify writing one of them in the story, but not the others?**

 **Clarence: Maybe if you hadn't brought the problem up for discussion, people would not have realized the problem and would have made their own answers to justify the existence of one and not the others.**

 **MG: *jumping off his chair* Who knows? And we got something more important to do.**

 **Nathaniel: Like what?**

 **MG: SWOL has hit 35 followers recently thanks to TegamiBachi25, Toy2711, Nahim03, Galieo Figaro, and Shadowmwape 'TetraKarne! If anyone doesn't want to be mentioned, just PM me and I'll remove them. Thanks to all you readers who have been enjoying SWOL so far!**


	24. Chapter 24: Call Clarence Sword Bro

**Author's Note: Hey again! This chapter came out later than expected but I'm hoping the next one will get posted before July. Before the chapter starts, we hit 30 favorites for SWOL! Thank you to Kurama The Platinum Zoroark, oyuki kita 540, brice51297, FairyTalePrincess16, TegamiBachi25, Toy2711, Nahim03, Shadowmwape 'TetraKarne, ZenGreatGamer, esonic1, and Reaper of Tales.**

 **Yeah, it turns out that I didn't do a shout out for when SWOL hit 25 favorites. If anyone doesn't want to be mentioned, just send a PM and I'll edit it.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Elysium: I intended Clarence to be a stand-in for the Mii Swordfighter but looking back, maybe my description wasn't too accurate. Funnily enough, Sophia was a possible name I thought for Cannon Girl before I said screw it and asked for suggestions.**

 **Chummy Joe: A guy changing appearance based on armor sounds cool but I don't think the skin of the Hero affects the moves so that would be kinda pointless. Unless the alt chosen affects the spells that the Hero can cast which would be interesting. I'm just waiting for the Hero to come out before deciding on anything concrete.**

* * *

 **Chapter 24: Call Clarence Sword Bro**

"Annoying little eggs!" I shouted, batting away a Mr. Game & Watch with the Steel Diver. We were in Console City, trying to clear out the Puppet Fighters.

To try and be more efficient, we split into pairs of two. Clarence and I were one team while Piranha Plant and Crazy were the other team.

I fired a torpedo at Mr. G&W, blowing it away. Only for another to come from above, slamming a key down. I smoke dashed away to dodge, but the one I shot came back, hitting me with a chair.

Naturally, I went down from the blow. Clarence jumped over me, slashing at the Mr. G&W to knock it away before reaching behind him. He threw a glowing yellow shuriken, which landed squarely on the 2D character's head. The fighter burst apart and Clarence moved onto the next Game & Watch that came his way.

The second one dashed towards him but before it could hit him with a match stick, Clarence just hit it away with his hand. The fighter got back to its feet in time for a torpedo to hit it. After bursting apart in smoke, the Spirit was released.

"Since when did you get shurikens?" I asked. Clarence captured the Spirit using a Joycon before answering my question.

"I always had them. I just never used them until now." He gave me a dry look before continuing down the street we were on.

"If you always had them, then why didn't you use them earlier?"

"Why would I use them?"

"Because," I answered, using my jacket to cover part of my face, "shurikens are cool. You could be like a ninja."

Clarence stopped and turned to me, "Would you have liked me to use those shurikens against the giant fire-breathing turtle with spikes? Because I can assure you that those don't do much damage."

I thought back to Giga Bowser that we fought at the Molten Fortress. Clarence throwing something as puny as a shuriken would not have done much against something as big as Giga Bowser. Maybe give him a paper cut at worst. At best, it would just tickle. "I guess not."

A thought struck my mind, "Hey Clarence? You had always had the shurikens from the beginning? They're not items?"

He sighed as he turned to keep walking, "Yes, I thought I made that perfectly clear. It apparently comes with the equipment. Why are you asking?"

"Well, the thing is," I said, falling into step behind Clarence, "I can't do that."

"I do not see why that is relevant."

"I was just thinking. I have to rely on items all the time to fight. Sure, I can punch and kick but those don't do much damage," I kicked the ground as I spoke. "Meanwhile, if you lose your sword, you can just throw shurikens."

"Losing my sword is not an issue," Clarence said.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"To begin with, the shuriken is not my only projectile." He pulled a metal ring from his pocket and threw it. The ring flew, slowing as it did before stopping and disappearing. "I have chakrams as well as the Gale Strike. Besides, if I lose my sword, I can recall it."

My eyes narrowed as I asked, "What do you mean recall? It's a sword, not a dog."

Clarence shook his head as he chucked the sword down the street. I watched the sword as it flew until it clanged onto the ground. "Okay, so you can throw a sword. Is it going to fly to you or just grow legs and walk?"

Ignoring me, the swordsman held his hand out. A moment passed as a light began to glow from his hand. The light stretched itself out and faded, revealing Clarence's sword. He gave a practice swing before looking at me, "I'd say this is how I recall a sword."

"Showoff," I muttered beneath my breath. "I wish I could do that."

"Aren't you the one with about two billion weapons at your disposal?" Clarence said. "I believe that more than makes up for not being able to be recalled."

"I only have, like, four items. And one of them isn't even a weapon." I pulled out the Special Flag. "Actually, I'm not even sure what it does."

Clarence nabbed the item from my hands. "If you're so curious, then why didn't you ask Crazy? This seems somewhat important."

"I picked it up from a weird temple." I shuddered a bit at the thought of what I went through there. The donkeys were horrible.

He turned to me, eyes narrowed, "Why would there be a temple here?"

"How's that odd? The world we're on is a melting pot of all different kinds of worlds. It makes sense for there to be a temple."

"What did you find in there?"

"Weren't you paying attention earlier?" I glared a bit at the knight. "I told you guys about it. Bunch of stuff about other stuff. Toadette would send the pictures and stuff to Crazy later."

Clarence frowned, "I still have trouble understanding how one can simply send images from vast distances to another."

"Stretch those legs!"

"Huh?" I narrowed my eyes, turning to Clarence. "Did you say something?"

"Are you talking about the stretching comment?" Clarence brandished his sword and settled into a fighting stance. "If so, then it would have come from them."

I turned my head to down in the direction he pointed at, yelping at what I saw. Four people were running at us, all identical. All of them had white, pale skin, wore yoga pants and tops.

One of them, wearing a blue top, threw a ball up and spiked it, volleyball style at us.

I shielded against the attack. The ball bounced off, and put the shield down. A second fighter jumped slapped the ball, spiking it into my forehead.

Recoiling, I pulled the first item I touched in my inventory. Checking quickly, it was a Beehive. I tossed it at the feet of Yoga Person who spiked the ball. The hive shattered and a dark cloud, made of thousands of tiny, flying insects, rose from the remains..

"Bees! Attack my foes and make them suffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!" I shouted, raising my arms to the sky as the cloud of bees began to sting and chase the Puppet Fighter.

"By the Divine! What are you doing!" Clarence shouted as he gave a flurry of stabs to another Yoga Person in green.

"Commanding the bees." I shot the first Yoga Person away with a torpedo as I watched the bees attack the Puppet Fighter. The Yoga Person tried to spike another ball but I fired another torpedo into the ball, knocking the ball into them.

Turning my attention to the two fighters that Clarence were busy dealing with, I fired a torpedo at both Puppet Fighters. The torpedoes missed and the one I shot earlier snuck up behind me.

Smoke dashing back, I landed on the other side of the Yoga Person. Taking a moment, I landed a kick on their back, knocking them towards Clarence. "Incoming!"

Readying his sword, Clarence spun, swinging his sword in a circle and slashing at the three surrounding him. "Hero's Spin!"

The three were knocked away and burst into smoke. The fighters dropped nothing.

"Hero's Spin? Really, Clarence?" I asked the knight.

"What? Do you have an issue with the name? I'm not the one who came up with the name."

"No. It's just," I thought back to The Legend of Zelda. "That move is just not that original."

"Shut up."

"Salute the Sun!" A ball of sunlight flew into Clarence. Turning, I saw the Yoga Person from earlier, probably the one I had the bees attack. I fired another torpedo as the fighter dodged and ran towards me.

I chucked the gun, aiming for the fighter's head. Yoga Person leapt over, trying to land on me with a stomp.

Timing my shield, I blocked. As the fighter landed, I pulled out the Fire Flower and let out a burst of fire into Yoga Person's face. As the Puppet Fighter backpedaled, I followed, keeping the fire blowing.

Quickly, the Puppet Fighter succumbed to the flames, releasing the Spirit and dropped a new item.

In terms of shape, the new item looked like a sword. Otherwise, there was not many similarities. There was a metal handle, and the hilt was a brown cube, made of the same metal. There blade was made of fireballs, five in total, that were connected with about a centimeter of air between each.

 **Item Acquired:  
** **Fire Bar**

"Finally, a sword." I looked the item over again. "Well, I guess something that's like a sword. What do you think Clarence?"

"I think that I'm starting to hate yoga. What did I even get hit with?" I captured the Spirit before helping the knight back to his feet. The surprise attack had only stunned him.

"The energy of a healthy body?" I joked. Clarence began to comment, when piano music began to play. "By burrito's name, what's that?"

Clarence dug around in his pockets, whipping out his Joycon. With a click of a button, the music stopped and Crazy's voice came out, "Finally! I was wondering if you didn't know how this worked."

"That's also a phone?" I said, dumbfounded.

Ignoring me, Clarence spoke into the bottom, "Crazy, you gave me a tutorial on how to operate the communication part, I wouldn't forget it. What do you need?"

"I am 80% sure that it's not supposed to also be a phone."

"Piranha Plant and I found another Dojo. We could stay there tonight." Crazy paused, then spoke up again. "Oh, and get ready to work until your muscles liquify."

"I am so confused right now." The Joycon let out a beep. "Did she just hang up? Why are our muscles going to liquify? Why is that also a phone? Why was that so random?"

Tucking the controller away, Clarence answered, "While we were waiting on you, Crazy modified the Joycon I had to be able to communicate with her part of the Switch. I'm guessing that they didn't fight the Puppet Fighter protecting the Dojo so maybe that's why."

"Next question: did she give us directions?"

"No. We're just going to have to keep walking."

We decided to head down the road we were already on and hope that we would find Crazy. Sadly, we were out of conversation topics.

Clarence mumbled something, making my head shoot up.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Clarence rolled his eyes, "Never mind. Just forget about."

A lightbulb went off in my head. "Oh yeah! Clarence, since I finally got a sword, or, well, I guess something like a sword, do you mind giving me some lessons?"

"Why? You have been doing fine without knowing how to properly wield a sword so far."

"Well, I guess. But it would be nice to have a better idea on how to use a sword." I pulled out the Fire Bar, swinging it around. "Maybe I can do all that stuff that you can do."

"What do you mean by stuff?"

"Y'know, like that Hero Spin move that you used earlier."

He glared at me, "Just stick to commanding the bees."

"Are you just being lazy?" I questioned.

Clarence spun to glare at me, when he got launched away. The swordsman was thrown into a wall as I gave the Puppet Fighter the stink eye. "You egg muffins are really rude. It's polite manners to wait until someone is finished talking."

The Puppet Fighter was a tanned man with a black tank top, green shorts, and green boxing gloves. I'm guessing he's a boxer.

Boxer Man took a swing at me, which I blocked with a shield. I swung back with the Fire Bar, the fireball struck him in the forehead and sent him back. However, the Boxer Man just bounced to his feet and dashed back to me.

"Oh no," I muttered. Boxer Man was too quick for my tastes, landing a jab to my gut before I could react. Hitting the ground, I dropped a Beehive and pulled out the Steel Diver as I went into a roll.

The Puppet Fighter dashed after me, trying to get more hits in. I aimed carefully and fired a torpedo at the Beehive. In a small explosion, the hive was destroyed and a swarm of bees rose up at the boxer's feet.

Then the bees turned their attention to me.

"What? No! You're supposed to go after him!" I clicked my tongue as the swarm moved to me. I fired a torpedo at the boxer before moving to run from the bees.

After taking several steps, the bees descended upon me. The insects started stinging me wherever my skin was exposed, my hands, my neck, my face, my eyes. I shut my eyes and tried to shield my face from the swarm. My jacket managed to keep the swarm from stinging body, at least until some of the bees crawled up my sleeves.

Throwing myself to the ground, I rolled on the concrete to kill the ones that had gotten into my clothes. I flailed, trying to swat the swarm away as they kept stinging. Doing that seemed to have worked, as the swarm soon dispersed.

Stumbling back to my feet, I did a quick body check. No swelling, no bee corpses. Right, video game logic.

That thought went through my head the same moment a green glove smashed into it. The hit floored me again, and I slid away.

Boxer Man ran after me, lunging forward with his fist prepared to hit, a spike ball hit him in the side as a familiar plant ran into view.

The Puppet Fighter flew through the air when I heard Crazy's Staff ring out, the shot piercing the airborne target.

"Little Mac, huh?" Crazy walked up from behind, her Staff slung over her shoulder. "Should be fairly simple. Piranha Plant! Stick to projectiles!"

"Little Mac?" I managed to groan out.

"Hey Nathaniel." She finally acknowledged that I was on the ground, nudging me with a toe. "Give us three minutes before we get to healing you and Clarence."

Crazy ran out of my line of sight, firing her Staff several more times. Meanwhile, I managed to flip myself onto my back, staring at the sky. "Crazy and Plant probably have this taken care of, right?"

" _Why are you being incredibly lazy right now?"_

"I just got betrayed by my bee minions, can you blame me?" I asked Oblivion.

" _There is so many things wrong with that," Oblivion sighed. "Who cares? Those were bees! They had no allegiance to you!"_

"Now you're just being mean," I muttered. I sat up, just in time to see Crazy smack Little Mac away with her Staff. Taking careful aim with the Steel Diver, I fired a torpedo, which made contact with the boxer and ended the battle in an explosion.

A Spirit spawned from the smoky remains of Little Mac and sped past me. I'm guessing that was the Spirit for the Dojo.

"Here you go. By the way, where's Clarence." Crazy asked as a sandwich bounced off my head. "You didn't murder him and dump the body somewhere, right?"

"Yes, Crazy. I murdered Clarence and dumped his body somewhere. That way, fights with the Puppet Fighters last ten times longer because it's just me." I rolled my eyes as I took a bite. I swallowed quickly and gestured with the sandwich. "He's somewhere over there."

"Great," she muttered, as she walked over to check on Clarence.

Meanwhile, Piranha Plant sat down next to me. After a moment, I turned to the plant. "Do you think Crazy likes Clarence?"

The plant put a leaf to it's chin. Then, it snapped it's teeth several times and waved a leaf.

"Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Hey! Time to get off your lazy butts!" Crazy called as she and Clarence walked back.

"Quick question Crazy. What did you mean by our muscles getting liquified?"

"I didn't tell you tell you?" Crazy asked to negative responses from Clarence and I. "The Dojo I found isn't technically a dojo."

"Like you could say any of the Dojos we found so far are technically dojos," I muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Nothing you should worry about."

"Sure." Crazy glared at me as she continued. "The Dojo I found is more like a gym. It would probably be a good idea to use the facilities there to help the two of you get EXP."

"EXP?" Clarence asked.

I clarified for him, "Experience points. Have you never played a video game before?"

"Does it matter?"

Crazy interrupted my response, "Both of you, pipe down. The gym is around the corner so let's just go inside."

I grinned at Clarence, "Race you there?"

"You're on."

I turned my head just in time to see Crazy bolt off. "Man, she's fast. You still up to race Sword Bro?"

Clarence frowned at the nickname. "After the fight just now, I'm not overly eager to stretch my muscles more than necessary."

I winced at the thought. I don't remember anything about gyms but if it'll liquefy my muscles, that's not something I'm eager about either.

I shrugged at my thoughts. "Well, no use complaining. Let's get going Sword Bro!"

"You have only called me that twice but I already never want to hear that from your mouth again."

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy, Clarence, Piranha Plant**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Steel Diver, Fire Flower, Beehive x2, Fire Bar**

 **Crazy Hand- Staff, Deku Nuts, Green Shell, Bob-omb, Bombchu x3, Smart Bomb**

 **Clarence-Special Flag**

 **Piranha Plant- None**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Peach, Bowser, Dr. Mario, Pichu, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Clarence: MG, I demand that you change the title of the chapter.**

 **MG: Why? What's wrong with it?**

 **Clarence: It is an insult to my honor as a knight. I did not spend years of my life, practicing the way of the sword, learning the intricate strategies of war, placing my life in the way of danger for the sake of my country, just so I could be called, "Sword Bro."**

 **MG: Alright, let me check the Ideas For Chapter Titles Bag.**

 **MG: *Puts arm inside a pouch. Pulls out a top hat.* Well, according to this top hat, there's no other ideas for titles so you're just going to have to deal with it. What's so bad about using it for the chapter title anyway? It's just for this one chapter.**

 **Clarence: Because soon enough, everyone will be using that nickname.**

 **Crazy: *Rolls by on a skateboard and a milkshake in hand* Hey MG! Hey Sword Bro! *Rolls away***

 **Sword Bro: Do you see my point?**


	25. Chapter 25:Knock-Out

**Author's Note: So yeah, The Hero got released last night. Played him a bit. Not too sure what I think about him. His specials are cool but the RNG aspect to his Down Special is a bit off to me. Meanwhile, I find him to be slower than what I'm used to but not too slow so that trips me up.**

 **Also, I've been playing Fire Emblem:Three Houses which I am absolutely sure has not affected me writing this.**

 **On another note, Cannon Girl shows up in this chapter. I decided on my own name for the character because while I did like the names that everyone suggested, I still couldn't decide on a name from among the ones suggested. I might change her name because, well, you'll see.**

 **One more thing. I decided to use only one Hero in SWOL but I wasn't sure which one to write in. Basically, since not everyone is able to access polls on my profile, I decided to use strawpoll. Since I won't add Hero for, maybe, another 5 chapters, I'll leave the poll open for votes until then. Link's at the bottom of the chapter.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Elysium: I guess you're right. SWOL does update more frequently than other fanfics but I think that's more or less because of how small the chapters are compared to others. I am planning to add a Brawler later into the story but that might not be until, maybe, Chapter 30-ish at best.**

 **Guest: My thoughts about Hero were above but about the rumors, I thought that Hero would get released the 31st. I guess I'm happy that I was wrong. As for the chapter title you suggested, it's pretty cool but I don't want to just copy you.**

* * *

 **Chapter 25: Knock-Out!**

"Come on! Dance like a fly and bite like a mosquito! You can do better than that!"

I punched again, hitting the pad that Doc Louis, a portly man in a tracksuit and the Dojo Master for the Dojo, held. The Dojo was actually a Gym. No styles to be learned, just getting stronger.

"I barely felt that! Put some more oomph into it!" He said.

"What do you think I'm doing?" I muttered as I kept punching. Someone tried to hold back a laugh as my punches were mostly ineffective.

I stopped, turning to see Crazy leaning against the boxing ring's ropes. She had her hair pulled into a ponytail and a twinkle in her eyes. I called out, "Well, why don't you come in ring and I'll show you how hard I punch?"

"I think I'm good," Crazy answered, a smile plastered on her face. She turned to Doc, "Why don't you guys take a break? The two of you have been working out for a while."

"All right then." Doc exited the ring while I walked over to where Crazy leaned.

"What's the point of this?" I asked her. "I have weapons so I don't need to rely on punching. And even if I do lose my items, I've been fine without practice so far."

Crazy's smile dropped into a scowl. "Is that why you weren't taking it seriously?"

"Um, maybe."

She pointed over to where Doc stood. Munching on a chocolate bar, he stared at the wall where several framed pictures were, hanging on the wall. The pictures weren't the only thing that was hanging on the wall. In the center was a belt. Too massive to normally be used for pants, it was made of leather and a massive gold, shining buckle.

I turned my attention to the pictures. Some showed the boxer from earlier in various training exercises. Hitting a punching bag, running, jump rope. The other pictures showed Doc and Little Mac holding up the belt that was on the wall.

"Doc's a bit down cuz of the whole Galeem killing all the Smashers thing," Crazy explained.

"He trained Little Mac?"

"No, it's clearly Bowser." Crazy gave me light punch to the shoulder. "But yeah, Doc used to be a boxer, then he coached Little Mac who then went on to win a championship."

"Huh, neat."

A weird look showed up in Crazy's eyes. "That's what put Little Mac on our radar for the tournament."

"Then what did the Yoga Instructor do to get into the tournament?"

"Oh, them." Crazy got a sheepish look, "Some of the Smashers weren't getting enough exercise in between tournament rounds so we hired a yoga instructor as a solution. They also doubled as nutritionists to help with their diets."

"And they could somehow fight?"

"Hey," Crazy said, shrugging, "we needed all the help we can when Master Core woke up so my brother and I gave them the ability to fight."

I looked back at Doc. All the Smashers had loved ones, and it wasn't just them who were caught in this fight against Galeem. All the Spirits were as well.

" _You're caught up in this too,"_ Oblivion asked. " _Did you ever ask if you wanted to fight in this war?"_

"Doesn't matter if I asked or not, I'm here now."

" _And what about your family, how does this affect them? They might think you're dead in a ditch somewhere."_

"Oh, look at who's Mr. Pessimism all of a sudden," I thought back. "I'll deal with that after Galeem's dead."

" _Galeem's more powerful than a god. Do you even know how to kill him?"_

I took a deep breath, slowly clenching and unclenching my fist. "Oblivion, you're kinda putting me in a bad mood. If you really want to know my plan for when we meet Galeem that badly, it's to hit him until he stops moving."

"You okay Nathan?"

Crazy's voice broke me out of my conversation with Oblivion. "I'm fine. Just thinking about stuff. Why?"

"You look like you're going to murder someone."

"I was just thinking about challenging Clarence to a boxing match. It might cheer Doc up if he sees us wailing on each other like Little Mac in a boxing tournament or something."

The side of Crazy's mouth twitched. "Why not? I'll go get Sword Bro and Piranha Plant."

Yeah. I told Crazy to call Clarence Sword Bro, which she did without much hesitation. That's kinda why he went off to a different room to practice on a dummy.

I put on a pair of red boxing gloves while Crazy walked in. Behind her, followed Clarence and Piranha Plant.

I did a couple of hops while Clarence got ready. "Did Crazy tell you the rules?"

Clarence nodded. "No hits below the waist, no weapons, fists only, best of three rounds."

"Sounds about right." I blinked as something dawned on me. "Wait, how did Crazy convince you to do this?"

A wolfish grin grew on Clarence's face. "If I win, you stop calling me Sword Bro."

"Fine." I threw out a practice punch. "But if I win, you're gonna give me some of those sword lessons I asked you about."

"When was that?" Crazy asked.

We ignored her as Clarence agreed to the terms. Doc rang the bell and we started the first round.

Clarence dashed, starting with a right hook. Ducking under Clarence's arm, I hopped back out of his reach.

Moving forward, Clarence threw out several more punches. I avoided them by jumping back further.

" _You do know that you're going into a corner, right?"_

"Excuse me?" My back hit the corner ropes right as Clarence was in the middle of another hook.

I lunged forward, jabbing Clarence in the face. He stumbled back and I gave another punch in the chest to push him back further. As Clarence reoriented himself, I moved to the side, away from the corner. "Come at me Sword Bro!"

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what now, you soggy tortilla chip."

Clarence answered with a glare, "You could have kept punching me. You had the advantage when you knocked me back so why didn't you follow through?"

"You do know that this is only the first round, right?" I put my hands up as I approached. "Let's just take our time."

Clarence rolled his eyes as he looked at Crazy. Turning his attention to me, he lunged forward with a right hook. I blocked as his left hand came up and connected with my head. Then I only saw black.

* * *

 _The sudden change of lighting disoriented me. After a few blinks, I found myself on a moonlit rooftop. At the edge, Markus stood, in his usual black cloak._

" _Gotcha M.H. I'll keep watch." He had a hand up to where an ear would be. In his other hand, a pair of binoculars was held up to his eyes. Or the shadowy void where his eyes would be._

 _Walking up next to him, I traced his line of sight to what he was looking at. Then my jaw dropped._

 _A magnificent party was being thrown in the courtyard of a magnificent palace, right across the street. People were dressed in fancy suits and elaborate dresses, magicians maneuvered through the crowds and performed close-up magic, there was a full opera, complete with a conductor and an orchestra of all kinds of musical instruments. Servants, carrying glittering, silver plates, delivered sparkling drinks and colorful dishes to the guests. The guests roared with laughter as they danced, drank, and made merry._

 _Unlike the last dream, this one seemed to be more modern as the buildings were made of brick and the street was concrete. My attention snapped back to Markus as he began speaking again._

" _Um, M.H. There's an expired avocado hitting on your sister." He recoiled, turning away with a gasp of pain before putting the binoculars back up. "And she just hit him in the naughty bits. No wonder you call her Crazy."_

 _Markus's head twitched and he muttered something. Speaking back into his earpiece, "No. Nothing's wrong other than Crazy's about to kill a man."_

 _Watching the crowd, someone with white hair began to push his way through, towards a woman in a black waterfall dress who stood over a potato of a man on his knees. Markus sighed, "Here I am on surveillance while they get to have all the fun."_

 _Sitting, he dangled his feet over the edge. "Maybe I should sneak over there. Blow something up."_

 _He put the binoculars up again, "Man, Crazy is really laying into that guy. Maybe I don't need to go over there after all."_

 _Something apparently caught his interest, as Markus turned away from the party to see a shadowy figure break through a palace window._

" _Hey M.H. our dear thief friend just broke into the palace. Following now." Markus took a couple of steps away from the edge before running back and jumping._

 _Hanging in the air for a single moment, Markus burst into a cloud of smoke, dashing towards the broken window. Reforming with a foot on the windowsill, he pulled himself through._

 _At least he tried to. A foot kicked him out before he can. Falling, he jumped back in the air, away from the window._

 _The shadowy figure, dressed in a dark cloak similar to Markus's, pulled out a pistol and took aim._

* * *

"Wakey wakey!" Cold water hit me in the face, shocking me to consciousness.

"Fudgepops!" I woke up to Crazy standing over me, with a dripping bucket in a hand.

We made eye contact. Shoving the bucket into Clarence's arms next to her, she said, "Clarence did it."

I sighed, "So I lost, huh?"

"Yes. In a single hit," Clarence stated. "You are quite terrible at this."

Before I could show Clarence at how terrible I am at keeping my temper in check, Crazy interrupted. "Anyway, it's time we headed out again. There's more of the city to explore."

"So I don't have time to change into dry clothes?" I peeled off my soaked jacket, scowling at the two.

"I have a spare set of clothes you can wear," Doc added, handing me a red tracksuit. "You can leave your clothes here to dry."

I took the clothes and slipped into a nearby dressing room.

" _Clarence is right. If you got knocked out in a single punch, then you might need to focus on training your body more."_

"The only reason that I lost was because we couldn't use items," I hissed back at Oblivion. "Nothing more, nothing less."

" _So, you're saying you want to fight Clarence, a fully-fledged knight who has trained and become a master of the blade, in a swordfight. You, someone who most likely before coming to this, never has had more exercise than just running a mile at most in school."_

"I never said in a swordfight."

" _Oh really? In what then, a game of checkers?"_

"First of all, I never learned how to play checkers and I feel attacked by that comment. Second, it would be sword vs. Steel Diver." I finished changing and stepped out of the dressing room.

" _My money would still be on Clarence."_ Oblivion always wants to have the last word, doesn't he?

I threw my old clothes into a laundry basket before turning to Crazy. "So, what? We just walk around the city?"

Crazy shrugged, "Kinda. I saw a place earlier that I wanted to check out but then we found this Dojo so we'll check that place out first."

"It will be quite simple." Clarence shrugged his sword over his shoulder. "There are four of us after all. Any fighters we come across will be dealt with swiftly."

* * *

"Whelp," I said as Clarence flew off over the edge. "There he goes."

I leaned over the edge, yelling towards the bottom floor, "Hey! Piranha Plant! Oh, never mind. You already caught Clarence."

I turned my attention back to Donkey Kong in time to dodge another punch. Rolling to the side, I kicked, sending Donkey Kong after Clarence as he hit the ground of the construction site. Yep, we're fighting at a construction site.

We've also been fighting for the past hour.

" _~It's time to jump up in the air! Jump up, don't be scared!~"_ A Peach sitting at the top of the steel skeleton of a building, singing a pop song about jumping or something. The problem was that whenever she finished half of her song, a Mario and Donkey Kong fighter would spawn while the Peach would run away when we tried getting close.

"I am getting really tired of that song." Crazy punched Mario in the face, before grabbing him by the ankle and throwing him at another Donkey Kong. The two collided and flew over the edge.

"I dunno, it's kinda catchy." I double-jumped to the top, firing with the Steel Diver. Peach rolled to the side and jumped off the building, dodging the torpedo. Whipping out a parasol, she calmly floated downward.

"Finally!" Crazy took aim with her Staff and fired at Peach. The shot hit her dead-on but failed to end the fight.

" _~Spin the wheel, take a chance. Every journey starts a new romance! A new world's calling out to you."_ Peach sang and she tucked away her parasol. Double-jumping, she landed on a different level between me and Crazy.

"I absolutely hate this Spirit," Crazy said, climbing up to the Fighter.

I dropped down to the same floor, just in time for another DK and Mario to spawn. I grimaced, firing at the two fighters.

DK jumped over while Mario used his Cape to reverse the torpedo. The torpedo hit me the same time that DK threw a punch. I slid back as the ape chased after me. Sidestepping another punch, I grabbed him by the tie and fired another torpedo point-blank.

The ape flew back into Mario and I ran after. Firing one more torpedo at DK, I threw the Steel Diver at Mario before punching him in the cheek.

Both of the fighters got thrown back and Crazy's Staff rang out, shooting both fighters. Thankfully, both disappeared into smoke, leaving Peach defenseless for about another minute. Crazy and I ran at the princess, a shot rang out.

A green blast raced past Crazy and I, hitting Peach. The blast was a direct hit. The Puppet Fighter released the Spirit as Crazy and I turned to see who fired the shot.

"Finally found you-" Cannon Girl held up her left hand, performing air quotes-"Mr. Target."

"Oh, how ya doing Cannon Girl?" I asked.

She thrust the cannon at me, glowing with energy and stuffed with lasers. "Don't you dare call me that."

I pointed the Steel Diver back at her, "The day I stop calling you Cannon Girl, I'll stop calling Clarence, 'Sword Bro.' Got it?"

"Um, Nathaniel," Crazy took aim with her Staff as well. "You lost the bet so you have to stop calling him that. Did that punch give you brain damage?"

"Huuuuuuuuussssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." I put a finger to my mouth. "She doesn't know that. At least let me try and make Cannon Girl a thing."

A laser drove itself into my chest. Thrown off my feet, Cannon Girl screamed at me, "WILL YOU STOP CALLING ME THAT YOU MORONIC NIMWIT! FIRST: CANNON GIRL IS A COMPLETELY IDIOTIC NICKNAME! SECOND: I HAPPEN TO HAVE A NAME! THIRD: MY NAME IS AIMEE YOU MICROSCOPIC BRAINED APE!"

I jumped away to a different floor as she kept firing at me. "Wow, she's mean."

Crazy charged at Aimee, swinging her Staff. Aimee switched her focus and aimed the cannon at the ground. The cannon spewed fire, launching Aimee into the air.

Towards the floor I was on, sadly enough.

"Guess I really am Mr. Target," I muttered to myself.

" _Something about this is really bother me though."_

"What do you mean by that?" I asked as I took aim with the Steel Diver. Aimee landed and I fired. She dodged the torpedo and took aim. The cannon beeped and fired its own missile.

" _Well, where's Joker?"_ I sidestepped the missile and moved closer to Aimee. She immediately backed off, trying to get as much distance between us. So she doesn't like me getting close.

A shot came up from below, clipping the side of her cheek. Glancing below, I saw Crazy aiming her Staff up at Aimee. Crazy fired again, this time, hitting her target in the thigh.

Aimee backed up, right over the edge. Her foot stepped out into the air. "Woah!"

I ran over, grabbing her left wrist. She regained her balance, albeit with both feet still on the edge. "Why?" She said. "You saved me from falling off the edge. Do you think you're some kind of hero?"

"What? No. I just wanted to push you off myself." I let go of her wrist and shoved her in the chest. Aimee lost her balance and plummeted from the edge.

"Nathaniel! What the hell!" Crazy called up from below.

"What?" I yelled back, "She was being mean! And that wouldn't kill her!"

"Gah!" I looked over the edge. Aimee had landed on Clarence and Piranha Plant, using them to break her fall.

"See, that wouldn't have killed her. I think she is out cold though."

Crazy sighed, "Fine. Let's drag them back to the Gym."

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy, Clarence, Piranha Plant**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Steel Diver, Fire Flower, Beehive x2, Fire Bar**

 **Crazy Hand- Staff, Deku Nuts, Green Shell, Bob-omb, Bombchu x3, Smart Bomb**

 **Clarence-Special Flag**

 **Piranha Plant- None**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Peach, Bowser, Dr. Mario, Pichu, Lucario, Villager**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Nathaniel: Her name is _Aim_ ee?**

 **MG: Yep.**

 **Nathaniel: And she has a gun.**

 **MG: Sounds about right.**

 **Nathaniel: Crazy, do you have any tape?**

 **Crazy: Sorry. You lost your tape privileges after last time.**

 **Clarence: Do I still have my tape privileges?**

 **Crazy: You never had any to begin with.**

 **MG: Since I'm not getting taped, the link for the poll is:**

https: strawpoll. com dp59crwy

 **Put two slashes after https, one slash after com and remove all the space. This site doesn't like urls. I used the Smash Bros wiki for the names instead of the official video that showed off the Hero and the 4.0 update. Go and vote if you want.**


	26. Chapter 26: Heads I win, Tails you lose

**Author's Note:**

 **Nothing much to say. I would have liked to have gotten this chapter out earlier but I guess not. The chances of another chapter this month is pretty slim but I'll at least try to get out another chapter before I leave for college next month.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Elysium: Thanks for the thought. Three Houses is still eating up my time, especially since I'm on my second playthrough.**

 **Defender31415: Who doesn't hate the Pauline fight? For Nathan's fighting style, if this was a video game, I would imagine him being sort of a jack-of-all-trades since he uses items the most.**

* * *

 **Chapter 26: Heads I win, Tails you lose**

"It's so nice being in my regular clothes," I sighed, shrugging my jacket on. Another sigh slipped out as I felt the familiar feeling of the jacket drape over my body.

Actually, nevermind. Now it's too hot.

" _Why do you even wear a jacket? It's not that cold outside,"_ Oblivion asked as I pulled the jacket off.

"It's not any of your business."

" _Five gold coins says you started wearing a jacket all the time because you wanted to look like Ash from Pokemon when you were 6."_

"Hush. It was when I was 7." I left the locker room to see Piranha Plant at a desk, scribbling something down while Crazy and Clarence were standing next to the boxing ring, speaking in hushed whispers.

I decided to see what Piranha Plant was up to first. Walking over, paper wasn't all that Piranha Plant had. Crazy's Switch stood with pictures of the ruins that I explored with Toadette. Glancing at the Plant's papers, it was copying the images down.

"So, Crazy has you doing work?" I asked the plant, which nodded. I leaned against the desk, watching Piranha Plant work. Surprisingly, it held a pencil with a leaf instead of its mouth which is what I thought it would do. "Can you read any of those symbols that you're writing down?"

The plant shook in a negative. Turning its attention back to the Switch, Piranha Plant changed the image to the one I saw of Galeem.

"Doesn't Galeem kinda look like a sun with wings?" I asked.

Piranha Plant snapped its jaws twice at me and pointed to where Crazy and Clarence were talking.

"I don't want to go talk to them."

The plant pointed at me, snapped its jaws again and shook its head.

"I have some inkling of what you said so I'm just going to base my response off that." Taking a deep breath, I collected my thoughts. "More likely than not, they're talking about Aimee because why wouldn't they? Probably about how to convince her to join us. Aimee, the one who wants to drag me to Galeem, the giant sun god thingy. Also, she's mean so I don't like her."

Piranha Plant snapped its jaw left and then right, before snapping again at me.

"What do you mean to stop acting childish as a means to aggravate her into making a mistake during fights and to give up information about herself?"

Piranha Plant shook its head. "No? So, what did you say?"

The plant threw its pencil at me and pointed at Crazy and Clarence with a leaf. "Alright. No need to get violent."

I walked over to the two in time to catch something.

"And then the kitchen exploded," Crazy finished, waving her hands around. "Hey Nathan. What's up?"

A frown crept onto my face, "What was that about an exploding kitchen?"

"Just some old stuff about the Smash Manor," she explained with a shrug. "Putting so many people in the same building led to a bunch of stuff happening."

"It certainly did seem to be-" Clarence paused, narrowing his eyes, "a lively place."

"Maybe I'll tell you guys more stories about it later." Crazy cleared her throat, "But the issue now is, what should we do with Aimee?"

"Where is she right now?" I asked. I had changed almost immediately when we got back to the Gym so I didn't see what Crazy did with her.

"We used tape and threw her in the closet."

"That sounds vaguely familiar," I muttered as we moved back to the main question.

"What would be her motivation for siding with Galeem?" Clarence asked, a hand pressed to his chin.

"I think she said the same motivation you have, Clarence. To go back home," I sighed. "I also think she said because Galeem was the winning side."

"Really?" Crazy perked up at this, "I can convince her easy then."

"How exactly would you accomplish that? She seems to be a rather stubborn individual."

"That, my dear Clarence, is simple." Crazy had maniacal grin as her eyes gained a devilish glimmer. "We just need to show her that Galeem winning won't benefit her at all. You three should go finish up the Puppet Fighters, I got her."

"Actually," I said, stopping her, "there is something I wanted to ask you Crazy. How did Galeem win against the Smashers again?"

"Oh, with giant lasers," she replied, absentmindedly, as she mumbled to herself. "I'll need that, some of this, would that be too much? Nah, it'll be fine."

"Wait, you're telling me that Galeem, the Big Bad that we're supposed to fight, killed more than 70 people with giant doom lasers of death?"

"Well, yeah. How did you think he beat them? Throwing squeaky toys at them?"

"Hey, Clarence?" I turned to the knight. "Do you know how to defend against giant laser attacks?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"So, if Clarence doesn't know how to stop Galeem from, I don't know, completely obliterating us with lasers," I had turned back to Crazy, rushing my words as the implication hit me. "That means I don't know. Therefore, if you don't know, then we're practically screwed when we do go fight Galeem. So Crazy, please tell me that you have some plan to stop Galeem from killing us with giant lasers."

"Nathan, calm down a bit please. While I don't have a plan-"

"OH MY BAGELS! WE'RE ALL DEAD THEN!"

" _While I don't have a plan to deal with the giant death lasers."_ Crazy gritted her teeth, putting a hand to the bridge of her nose, "It took Galeem absorbing almost all the copies of Master Hand that he created to unleash that attack. Pulling that attack off again will take too much energy to do. So calm down before I smack some calm into you."

"Alright, since we won't meet our demise through death lasers, let's see if we can meet it some other way." I began hauling Clarence to the door by his collar, waving over Piranha Plant with my other hand. "I really hope we won't have to fight Little Mac again."

"Why do you say that?" Clarence broke my grip and fixed his collar.

"It seems kinda boring to have to fight the same type of fighter in the same day, y'know?"

* * *

"Dear Diary, today, I said things that I truly wish to take back. Unfortunately, I happen to have a brain the size of a raisin and a sad lack of a time machine."

"Nathaniel, 'Dear Diary' is a phrase typically reserved for writing an account of some kind in a journal. I do not see any such material in your hands."

"Hush, Clarence." The three of us looked at the Smasher Statue before us. The nameplate on it read:

 **Smasher No. 49:  
** **Little Mac**

"Alright, let's get this over with," I said, stretching my arms.

"Hold on, allow me to fight Little Mac." Clarence stepped between me and the statue.

"What? Why? So you can get your butt handed to you in five seconds?"

"No," he stated. Drawing his sword, Clarence spun the blade, ending with a point at the statue. "In order to undo my previous loss, I will fight and defeat Little Mac this time."

"Who cares?" I pushed his sword down. "I already fought Little Mac so I know how he fights. I can just outrange him with the Steel Diver."

"If the only reason you have for fighting him is because you have projectiles, I have projectiles at my disposal as well." Clarence moved my arm off of his and pointed the sword at the statue again. "In addition, you required Crazy and Piranha Plant's help to fight Little Mac. The only reason I lost is due to that previous fight leaving me too injured."

"Oh sure, just make up an excuse for getting knocked out so fast."

"Please repeat that statement so that I may cut out your tongue when you finish talking."

"Okay, how about this?" I pulled out a gold coin, showing the side with the smash cross to Clarence. "Let's say this side is heads. Now, I'm going to flip this coin and if it's heads, I get to fight Little Mac."

I flipped the coin into the air, the golden disc becoming a sphere as it spun. Rising into the air, the coin stopped before gravity began to work, dragging the coin back to my waiting hand.

Clarence snatched the coin, moments before it landed. "Let me see the coin."

He turned the coin over in his hand. Upon seeing the other side of the coin, Clarence held it up to me, giving me a look that only said, "You are a terrible person."

"Resorting to a trick coin, Nathaniel?" The other side of the coin bore the same crest as the other side that I declared to be heads.

"Technically," I grabbed the coin back and tossed it into my pocket. "All of the coins are like that. Therefore, it's not a trick coin."

"You still attempted to trick me with that coin flip. Due to that, I shall be the one to fight Little Mac."

"Sure, except that I have plausible deniability on my side."

"Will's mercy," Clarence sighed. "What do you mean by plausible deniability?"

"It means you can't prove that I actually knew that both sides were the same."

"At least, that's what I think it means," I thought to myself.

" _How about the two of you stop bickering like 5-year olds and fight Little Mac already?"_

"I'll stop bickering with him when he stops dragging it out and lets me fight."

A green wall smashed into us from the side, knocking both of us over. Looking over at the statue, Piranha Plant blew a cloud of poison into Little Mac's face.

"Oh come on!" Piranha Plant chomped at us before turning back to Little Mac.

Dashing closer to Piranha Plant, Little Mac swung once he was close enough. The plant dodged by jumping over the boxer and slammed the pot into Little Mac's head. Continuing the assault, Piranha Plant landed and used the pot to swipe at Little Mac's feet. Little Mac got thrown into the wall as a result.

Chewing a bit, Piranha Plant spat out a spiked, iron ball, keeping it afloat by blowing. Tilting its head, Piranha Plant threw the ball into Little Mac, making the boxer keep his back against the wall.

Piranha Plant lunged Little Mac, swinging the pot again. Little Mac countered this time, moving back to avoid the hit before closing in for a punch. Launching Piranha Plant through the air, Little Mac moved to where the plant would land, preparing for another strike.

Spinning, Piranha Plant used its leaves like blades to knock Little Mac away from where it would land. Little Mac used an uppercut at the same moment. Both attacks landed on their respective targets at the same time, and both were knocked away.

Piranha Plant withdrew its head into its pot, tipping the pot over to aim at Little Mac. Stretching its neck out across the field, the plant took a bite out of Little Mac. The plant's head retracted back to normal length and moved back closer to Little Mac.

Little Mac threw out a jab at the approaching plant. The plant jumped, swinging the pot into the boxer's face, then used a second jump to strike Little Mac with its head.

Crashing into the ground, Little Mac rolled away from the plant which landed. Piranha Plant began glowing with a rainbow aura upon hitting the ground.

"Piranha Plant has a Final Smash too?" I turned to Clarence, "What do you think it'll be?"

"Be quiet and watch then."

The aura around Piranha Plant dimmed somewhat, indicating the attack has been activated. Behind Piranha Plant, jumping out of seemingly nowhere, a giant plant similar to Piranha Plant with yellow petals around its head and red underwear with white spots emerged. At the end of each leaf arm, a steel cage dangled.

"Will's grace! What horrific abomination is that!"

"Oh, that guy?" Crossing my arms, I thought back on the memories I have. Mumbling to myself, "Pretty sure it was Something Plant."

" _Not even close. It's Petey Piranha."_

"Clarence, meet Petey Piranha. Petey Piranha, meet- oh, you're killing Little Mac."

Petey Piranha swung the cages around, catching Little Mac in one. Breathing fire on both of the cages, Petey Piranha slammed the flaming cages into the ground. Little Mac shattered and Petey Piranha disappeared.

"Hey Piranha Plant! Was that your dad?" Clarence and I crossed over as the wall fell. The plant simply shrugged while I picked up Little Mac's amiibo.

No memory.

Admittedly, a little part of me wanted to see a memory. To know at least a little more about who I was, who I should be.

"Stop waxing existential crises, Nathaniel," I muttered. "There are things to do."

"Shall we continue onward?" Clarence asked. "There might be another statue in the city."

" _Something's coming."_

"Like what? Your-" A nail drove itself into my head. Thankfully, not literally.

That might have been better though.

The floor hit me. I gripped my head, trying to somehow stop the pain. Clarence and Piranha Plant were next to me, saying something. I couldn't tell what they were saying over my own screaming.

Every nerve in my body burned. The nail in my head invited some friends to stab themselves into my head. I could barely control my limbs.

Seconds slowed down into a pain-filled eternity. Existence itself became suffering and the end would never come.

The pain stopped. I blinked, waiting for a relapse to begin hurting me again. I sat up. "What the waffles was that?"

"Glad… to see….. that you… .have…...recovered," Clarence groaned out. He had curled up into the fetal position during my attack.

"Is something wrong?"

"Yes… You kicked me ... in the groin."

"Oh. Sorry." I shifted my attention inward, "Oblivion, do you mind telling me what that was?"

No response.

I shut my eyes, feeling for Oblivion's presence. In the back of my mind, in the darkest corner, I felt a glimmer of Oblivion.

Something else was there too. It felt like it was telling me something. Like a compass.

The object in question was coming towards us. At the speed it was moving, maybe a person? A person, who is actually moving at a fast pace towards us.

My eyes flashed open, in time to see Joker leap off the building in front of us.

"Oh. Hi Joker! How're you doing?" I waved at the phantom thief. "Here to get your butt kicked?"

"Why are you so casual to someone who tried to kill you?"

"Good point. Another good point is what's with that?" I gestured towards Joker, who had gone through some changes since I last saw him.

His eyes glowed a demonic red and a dark aura followed him. Otherwise, Joker looked the same as the last time we met. Black coat, red gloves, white mask.

The glowing eyes and aura does make him look eviller though.

Joker began to fire with his gun. Piranha Plant jumped out of the way while I shielded against the bullets so they won't hit Clarence.

Clarence jumped over me, bringing his blade down on Joker. Instead of dodging, Joker guarded by covering himself in blue flames, nullifying the hit. Dropping it, Joker slashed Clarence away using his knife.

Piranha Plant ran up behind Joker and smacked him with the pot, knocking the thief towards me.

I moved in, swinging the Fire Bar. The bar clanged as Joker blocked with a new item: my Death's Scythe.

He kicked me away, firing as I got pushed back. Switching his attention, Joker went after Clarence.

Joker remained on the offense, swinging wildly at the swordsman. Clarence backpedaled, trying to stay out of reach and blocking the swings he couldn't dodge.

I switched items, pulling out the Steel Diver. Aiming, I fired at Joker's back.

Joker jumped, flipping in the air. Meanwhile, the torpedoes I shot zoomed into Clarence.

"Shoot. Sorry!" The shots exploded, blasting Clarence away. "Wait, where did Joker go?"

The answer came in the form of Piranha Plant.

Hurtling into my face.

Probably at a million miles an hour.

After Piranha Plant got off, I fired again at Joker.

Sidestepping, Joker snapped his fingers at us.

" _Eiha!"_ A small, purple fireball looking projectile flew from his fingers. The projectile hit me in the leg, bursting apart in purple energy.

"Gah!" I leapt back. While the attack itself felt like a punch, it left behind lingering energy. My chest began to hurt, my heart feeling as if someone was gripping to disrupt my heartbeat. The pain and energy quickly dissipated however.

Piranha Plant flung another spike ball at Joker, while Clarence threw a light shuriken. Going into a defensive stance again, blue flames surrounded Joker, effectively blocking the two attacks.

" _Arsene!"_ Joker's mask disappeared into flames while the demon-like figure burst out behind him.

Making a mad dash towards us, Joker swung the scythe in a wide arc. Piranha Plant and Clarence jumped away while I smoke dashed closer.

I threw out a punch, aiming for Joker's face. Joker ducked out of the way, knocking me away using the scythe.

Wrapping himself in a blue aura, Clarence lunged forward, stabbing at the thief. The blow landed, pushing Joker back slightly but he regained his balance quickly, slashing with the knife. Clarence blocked, putting the two into a lock.

Tucking the scythe into his inventory, Joker aimed with his fingers, snapping at Clarence. " _Eigaon!"_

Another fireball leapt from his fingers, this one bigger and faster. Bursting apart as soon as it touched Clarence, the fireball created a pillar of dark energy, launching Clarence away and leaving him with energy lingering on him.

Joker pulled out his pistol, firing at Piranha Plant and me. We split in opposite directions, the plant to the right while I went left. Sadly, Joker decided to run after me.

I pulled out the Fire Bar just as Joker caught up. I swung, missed, and tried to dodge a knife swing. The demon followed Joker's movements again, slashing at me.

As I got flung back, Piranha Plant came up from behind Joker, flinging another spike ball.

" _Makarakarn!"_ A green barrier surrounded Joker, bouncing the ball back into Piranha Plant. The plant was knocked back, distracting Joker long enough for me to get a hit in with the Fire Bar.

Clarence leapt back into the fray, glowing with a rainbow aura of his own. Transferring all of the rainbow energy into his blade, he swung his sword, letting out all of the energy into one, giant sword beam. " _Final Edge!"_

The attack connected, cutting through Joker in an explosion. The aura around him faded as Joker collapsed.

"Is that it?"

"What? Did you want to fight more?"

"Well, no. It's just," I gestured, hopelessly at Joker's hopefully not dead body. "I'm just used to the enemies dropping something."

"What shall we do now?" Clarence asked.

"I guess help me pick him up. One of us could drag him back to the Gym." I walked over to Joker, grabbing his arm.

The moment my hand touched Joker, the aura that previously enveloped him exploded out of him.

"What in the chicken sandwich?" My hand wouldn't let go of Joker. The aura lingered in the air, then shot into me.

I shut my eyes, preparing for pain. There wasn't any. As the energy flowed into me, I felt as if I was becoming less hollow. Not full, like I just ate a fulfilling meal. As if I was a hollow doll that someone decided to put some marbles in.

"Nathaniel! Are you alright?" My eyes shot open, to see Clarence and Piranha Plant staring.

"Yeah, just peachy."

"First, you had, whatever that attack was, and now you're screaming randomly." Clarence said. "Maybe you should rest."

"I don't have time to rest, I got stuff to do."

"Nathaniel-"

"I don't need to rest," I repeated. "I am fine. You or Piranha Plant could take Joke back to the Gym. As for me, I am clearing the rest of the city. No questions about it."

Clarence sighed, "Piranha Plant, how about you take Joker back to the Gym? I'll stay with Nathaniel in case something happens."

As I passed Joker to the plant, a thought hit me. "Random screaming? Did no one see the aura swarm me?"

Oblivion answered my question, "I _have a feeling as to what it was, but I'll have to explain another time."_

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy, Clarence, Piranha Plant**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Steel Diver, Fire Flower, Beehive x2, Fire Bar**

 **Crazy Hand- Staff, Deku Nuts, Green Shell, Bob-omb, Bombchu x3, Smart Bomb**

 **Clarence-Special Flag**

 **Piranha Plant- None**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Peach, Bowser, Dr. Mario, Pichu, Lucario, Villager, Little Mac**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **MG: *walks onto stage, looks around* Has anyone seen my notes?**

 **MG: I know that someone's here.**

 **MG: I give up. Time to play Fire Emblem. *Leaves***

 **Crazy: *peeks out from behind a curtain with a stack of papers* Maybe I should have asked him to elaborate more on the Slideshow of Doom.**


	27. Chapter 27: Kid or Squid?

**Author's Note:**

 **What to talk about first?**

 **To start, this chapter is a bit shorter than the last couple so sorry about that in advance. I'll be leaving for college in two weeks so I might be able to get another chapter but that's a maybe.**

 **Speaking of college, I'm starting college soon so SWOL might go into another month-long hiatus but hopefully not.**

 **And then there was that Nintendo Direct yesterday. It was interesting. I'm not particularly excited for any new games but I liked what I from Fatal Fury was announced as the 4th DLC fighter in challenger pack 1 and more DLC fighters were in development. Also, Banjo and Kazooie got released. I played them for a bit and had some fun but I'm not sure when I'll add them to the story. NINTENDO WHY! I HAVEN'T EVEN PUT HERO IN YET!**

 **I almost completely forgot about this but for the Hero poll, Erdrick from Dragon Quest III is in the lead.**

 **In other news, SWOL hit 40 followers! Thank you to ZenGreatGamer, esonic1, Felipexza, humancreeper, eminutemen18, FireDragonShrimp, and RoomyLEGO101 for being the newest people to follow SWOL! If anyone doesn't want to be mentioned, just send me a PM.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **14shiffna: Trauma for everyone!**

 **Elysium: Don't worry, Oblivion is here with all your exposition answers! Also, I think that I might be rushing the Oblivion sub-plot too much so you won't get much after this chapter for your Oblivion theory for a while.**

 **Bob E: Sadly enough, Banjo won't show up for a very long time at the rate I'm writing this.**

* * *

 **Chapter 27: Kid or Squid?**

"What do you mean by a fragment?"

" _I mean what I said,"_ Oblivion answered. " _It's possible that a fragment of my power was affecting Joker."_

"Which I absorbed."

" _Yes. Although, it might be a while before any such power manifests in you."_

"Alright, fine. Then, why did Joker attack us?" I frowned as I thought back at the voice. Piranha Plant dragged Joker back to Gym already, leaving Clarence and I to finish with the city. "And what in the freaking salad bowl is a fragment, exactly."

" _A fragment is what it sounds like, a smaller part of a whole. Higher Entities are capable of splitting themselves into smaller fragments,"_ Oblivion elaborated. " _Those fragments can have some semblance of free will, and are usually used to fulfill some designated task if the main entity is occupied in some way."_

"Don't suppose you can give me an example, can you?"

" _Imagine if Crazy created a clone of herself to grab a snack for her while she watched TV. The clone would do that and after the task is complete, Crazy would reintegrate the clone into herself after the task is complete. Naturally, fragments would have less power than the original whole."_

The frown grew as I thought. Having a clone of Crazy, even with reduced powers, would help a lot. Then again, I haven't seen Crazy do much with her powers.

"It would be cool if she could just make an entire army of Crazys. Just conquer the entire world like that."

" _That's idiotic and a waste of energy."_

"I'm just saying, that would be cool. So, why did it attack us?" A thought hit me, regarding Joker and Oblivion's fragment. "And why did it possess Joker?"

" _The answers to both depends on circumstances."_ Oblivion paused. If he had his own body, I could just imagine him posing like the Thinker statue. " _The most likely answer besides it having orders to attack us, is that the task it had originally has been completed. Then, due to not being reabsorbed, it could have gone berserk."_

"Does that happen often?"

" _No, normally fragments just fade away instead of going berserk. But that may be due to the second question. Joker could have found the fragment and accidently absorbed it, which then led to a berserk state."_

"Oh, cool."

"Nathaniel, stop talking to yourself befo-" I walked into something solid, landing on my butt. "Never mind."

Clarence sighed as I picked myself up, rubbing my nose. "Ow, ow ow. What did I even walk into?"

It was another Smasher statue:

 **Smasher No. 64  
** **Inkling**

"Inkling, Inkling." I put my hand to my chin, "Which one was that again? I think I fought them before."

Clarence took his turn to look at the plate, "64? How many Smashers are there?"

"At least 70. Don't recall the exact number but it's definitely between one and infinity." Stretching, I hopped over to the statue. "Alright, time to start."

Before Clarence could answer, I slapped the nameplate. As always, the statue fell apart and a wall spread the statue, pushing Clarence from the center.

"A thousand curses upon you!" Clarence shouted as I gave him a wave.

I decided to start the fight with the Fire Bar, watching Inkling hop out onto the field. This one had orange squid hair, a white shirt with black shorts, orange ink tank on the back and a black eye mask.

"I remember you, I fought four of you." I said, "But they were yellow."

Inkling decided to respond by pulling out a big paint roller and charged, spreading paint along her path.

I jumped over, landing behind Inkling. Reversing course, Inkling moved to crush me with the roller.

I shielded against the attack, grabbing Inkling once the roller passed. Pummeling with the butt of my weapon a few times, I threw Inkling to the ground and kicked her away.

Rolling back to her feet, Inkling lobbed an Ink Bomb towards me. The bomb exploded, splashing me in ink.

As I wiped my face off, Inkling ran me over with the Roller, leaving me on the ground. Inkling made a U-turn again but picking myself up, I jumped over, slashing Inkling on the back using the Fire Bar.

As Inkling got knocked away, I smoked dashed while falling, moving to where Inkling would land. Reforming, I slashed again, launching Inkling across the battlefield.

Inkling hit the ground. Instead of simply landing, Inkling shrank and sank into the ground as a puddle of orange ink. Speeding towards me, Inkling swam as if the ground was water.

"Calamari. Of course, the ground can just be treated like water."

Jumping out, Inkling flipped and performed a helicopter kick, striking me in the head. As I stumbled back, Inkling swam through the ground, jumped once she was close enough, and hit me with the helicopter kick again.

As I got knocked back, Inkling swam closer again and jumped to do the same move a third time. Before the attack landed, I smoke dashed, moving through Inkling.

Reforming, I slashed and sent Inkling into the wall. As Inkling fell to the ground, she began to glow rainbow.

"Do we know what Inkling's Final Smash is?" I asked Oblivion.

" _No, but on the bright side, you get to find out very soon."_

The rainbow glow faded slightly as Inkling pulled out from her inventory, a strange cannon-like weapon. It vaguely reminded me of a bullhorn but this one was much larger, requiring two handles to hold it up, and the back had several tubes.

" _That would be a Killer Wail."_

"A whale?"

The Killer Wail fired, blasting out a seismic scream concentrated in my direction.

Grabbing my head, I fell to the ground. Someone replaced my brain with rats. Rats that were disease-ridden, mangy and starved to the point where they would cannibalize each other. The pain was second only to what I had felt before Joker arrived.

Something struck me. Launched away, the pain in my head disappeared as I left the Killer Wail's range.

Orienting myself, I saw Inkling charge at me while the Killer Wail slowly turned towards me, floating in the air where Inkling had activated it.

I switched the Fire Bar for the Beehive. Tossing the item at Inkling, I turned and ran to avoid the Killer Wail's onslaught.

Outside the weapon's range, the screech it made got reduced to a more tolerable, high-pitched whine. A whine that grew as it began to catch up to me.

I double-jumped, escaping into the air as the Final Smash timed out. At the same time, the bees attacking Inkling died off, leaving only me and her left.

Inkling began firing her gun, spraying orange ink at me. I backpedaled away, trying to keep out of range as she began to advance.

My back hit the wall. At the same moment, the spray of ink stopped.

Inkling checked the tank on her back. Empty.

Taking the opportunity, I dashed towards Inkling. Drawing the Fire Bar, I cut through the Smasher, finishing the fight with that blow.

Inkling's amiibo dropped to the ground, causing the wall to fall.

"You could have simply told me that you were going to fight Inkling instead of doing so without warning." Clarence walked up as I grabbed the amiibo.

Rolling my eyes, I stared at the amiibo and let the forgotten memories pour into my mind.

* * *

 _One minute left._

 _Feet pounded the floorboards as players ran across the court._

 _The basketball passed between teammates._

 _48 seconds left._

 _A player held the ball, ready to shoot it in the basket._

 _The ball began to leave his fingertips, becoming airborne._

 _31\. The number on the player's jersey. He had smashed the ball back into the floor, stealing it from the opposing team._

 _34 seconds left._

 _Making a mad dash across the court, Player 31 dribbled the ball, dodging players from the opposing team._

 _Two players blocked 31's way, halting his advance as he held the ball._

 _29 seconds left._

 _31 jumped, passing the ball over the defenders towards a teammate, 74._

 _74 caught the ball, just in time to see a defender blocking his way._

 _Moving to the left, 74 reversed courses, moving the ball to the right and passing it to a teammate closer to the basket. Teammate 57._

 _57 jumped, shooting the ball. He had shot too hastily as the ball bounced off the backboard and back towards the players._

 _Cheers erupted from one half of the audience and elicited groans from the other._

 _13 seconds left._

 _The players made a mad dash towards the ball but one player was faster than the rest._

 _Player 9 grabbed the ball and threw it overhead to a player who had not joined the rush._

 _Player 64. Catching the ball, he squared his feet and jumped, shooting the ball in a perfect arc towards the basket._

 _With a swish, Player 64 scored three points._

 _5 seconds left._

 _The ball was given to the other team. Feet pounded the floorboards as the players moved across the court again._

 _In desperation, a player threw ball from across the court. He missed spectacularly, the ball hitting the wall._

 _0 seconds. Game's over. Final score is 72-70._

 _The people around me cheered. My sister nudged me, "Hey, Nate! (_) made the winning shot!"_

 _The teams shook hands as the audience ran down to talk to family on the teams._

* * *

"How old were we when that happened?" I asked myself, "I think I was 8."

"Did you say something Nathaniel?" Clarence asked.

"No, nothing. Let's see if there's anything else in the city."

* * *

There was nothing else in the city.

"An entire afternoon, wasted." I said. After the Inkling fight, Clarence and I had searched the rest of the city and were now returning to the Gym.

Opening the front doors, I found a tea party. Piranha Plant and Crazy sat at a table, calmly drinking tea.

"Aren't we missing people?" I asked as Clarence accepted a cup from Crazy. "Where's Cannon Girl?"

"Stop calling me that or I will pour coffee on you." A voice behind me said. I turned to see Aimee behind standing in the doorway, coffee mug in one hand and Crazy's Switch in the other.

"Didn't you have a cannon for a hand?"

Giving me a death glare, Aimee said, "I would throw coffee on you but it would be a waste of good coffee."

"So you're not a robot like Mega Man?"

"Crazy, why did you pick this idiot?"

Crazy shrugged, "He was kinda my only option at the time and I was pretty desperate before our party started getting filled out."

Taking a seat, Aimee motioned with the Switch, "This thing is pretty nifty. Shame that it can't access the internet."

"Wait, so she doesn't want to drag me to Galeem anymore?"

"Did you check out the map on it?" Crazy asked.

"Yep." Taking a long sip of her coffee, Aimee pointed to the map on the Switch, "I think we should head here next. I remember Galeem mentioning something about a guardian."

"Why are we taking advice from someone who shot lasers at us?"

"Perhaps you could elaborate more on what you mean by a guardian?" Clarence asked.

"Simple. Galeem put up a barrier around himself. There's three guardians and as long as they're alive, the barrier stays up and therefore, we can't touch him," Aimee explained. "According to Crazy, you guys already got one. Giga Bowser, that's what you called him, right?"

"Can you please stop ignoring me?"

"Is that what you called the giant turtle?" Clarence turned to Crazy, who nodded.

I took a peek at the location Aimee had pointed to on the map. The spot was southeast of where we were, it was some kind of laboratory, past a gorge filled with giant mushrooms.

"Hey, Crazy. Didn't we pass this little area before?" I pointed to a spot along the path we would take.

Crazy peered closer to the screen as realization lit up her face, "Oh yeah! That was where you fought Villager."

"So now that our route has been decided, shall we leave now wait for the night to pass."

Crazy finished off her tea cup, moving to pour herself another one. "We should just leave tomorrow morning. Joker's still out cold but he should be up tomorrow. For now, all of you should get some rest."

The group split, Crazy and Clarence going into the kitchen, Piranha Plant went outside, presumably for photosynthesis and Aimee stayed at the table, drinking coffee.

I started to tiptoe out of the room. Unfortunately, Aimee called me before I made it out of the room. "Hey, it's Nathaniel, right?"

I froze. "Yes?"

"You don't answer a question with a question nitwit."

My face broke into a frown. "My name is Nathaniel. What do you want?"

She peered at me from over the rim of her mug. "Crazy said that you have amnesia, right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

Aimee shrugged, "Nothing. It's not everyday you meet an amnesiac who's pretty lax."

"Uh huh." I moved to my own question. "So out of curiosity, why are you working with us now? Didn't you say that Galeem was the winning side?"

She shrugged again. "Maybe, maybe not. And the details of the contract I have with Crazy is confidential. It's only between me and her."

"Contract?"

"That's all you need to know. I'm not saying anything else."

 **Aimee joined your party!**

I left the room, calling Oblivion, "Hey, is reading minds part of your moveset?"

" _I don't think so. Why ask?"_

"Nuggets. Aimee could be lying about working with us. She could just be lying so she can tie me up and drag me to Galeem in the middle of the night and I am not ready to face Doom Lasers yet."

Oblivion sighed, " _Do you have any evidence to support your claim?"_

"She shot lasers at us and said that she killed people before."

" _Sure, but that's not exactly strong pieces of evidence. Why don't you wait a bit and see if you can actually get anything decisive. She mentioned something about a contract with Crazy so maybe you could start there."_

I yawned, my eyes watering. "Let's just do that tomorrow. Curse this human body and its needs for rest and sustenance."

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy, Clarence, Piranha Plant, Aimee**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Steel Diver, Fire Flower, Beehive, Fire Bar**

 **Crazy Hand- Staff, Deku Nuts, Green Shell, Bob-omb, Bombchu x3, Smart Bomb**

 **Clarence-Special Flag**

 **Piranha Plant- None**

 **Aimee- None**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Peach, Bowser, Dr. Mario, Pichu, Lucario, Villager, Little Mac, Inkling**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Nathaniel: So according to the instructions, we need to screw that part in first.**

 **Clarence: I broke the screws by accident.**

 **Aimee: I say we add turrets to it.**

 **Crazy: That sounds awesome! We should add catapults too!**

 **Nathaniel: I was going to say that sounds insane but I forgot who I was talking to for a moment.**

 **MG: Do you guys mind telling me what you're doing so I know when to take cover when it blows up?**

 **Clarence: A dresser.**

 **MG: Then why do you need turrets?**

 **Crazy & Aimee: Why not?**


	28. Chapter 28:Questions wForgotten Answers

**Author's Note: Remember when I said I hope SWOL doesn't go on hiatus?**

 **Yeah, I don't remember either since it's been so long.**

 **Since the last chapter, I started college and it hasn't been easy trying to adjust to my new schedule. From the looks of it, updates will now be at least monthly but who knows? I'm not the best at keeping track of this stuff.**

 **In other news, SWOL has over 35 favorites now! Shout-out to eminutemen18, FireDragonShrimp, RoomyLEGO101, Blargg888, mortiz555yahoo com, and croninjonathon0! If you don't want to be mentioned, just shoot me a PM and I'll do so.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Elysium: Thanks for reminding about that typo with Aimee! Sadly enough for me, the party is going to grow even more!**

 **The Normal Mage: I'm pretty sure that everyone is going to want to tear Galeem apart by the end of this.**

* * *

 **Chapter 28: Questions with Forgotten Answers**

"Please?"

Crazy sighed, putting down her pencil. "Nathaniel, for the 152nd time, no. And you're doing some very terrible puppy eyes."

"Well, how do you do better puppy eyes?"

Crazy thought for a moment before answering. "Think Bambi."

"Crazy please," I said. "Amnesiac here."

"Fine. Think adorable small deer that just saw its mother get shot by hunters."

"Oh my cheese, that's horrible."

"How much meat did the hunters get from the mother?" Clarence asked.

"Clarence, what the heck man?"

"There is nothing wrong with me asking," Clarence took a bite out of a biscuit as he answered. "For all we know, the hunters needed to kill the mother to provide food for their families so they would avoid starving in the winter."

"Well, sure but orphaning a baby deer is just sad."

Aimee entered the room, naturally, with a mug of morning coffee. Glaring at us with dark bags under her eyes, Aimee turned her attention to Crazy. "So, do I want to ask?"

"They're just talking about a baby deer in an animated film." Crazy answered.

Nodding slowly, Aimee threw out her own opinion. "I hope it gets shot by the hunters."

Clarence and I just stared at her.

"What? First off, it's a baby deer. It wouldn't make it past winter by itself. Secondly, it'll be a faster and less painful end for the hunter to end it than have the deer starve to death or die from the cold. Third, at least it can reunite with its mother in," Aimee threw her free hand up, gesturing at the roof. "Whatever deer heaven there is."

We kept staring at her.

Frowning, she rolled her eyes and took a seat.

As a silence began to grow, Crazy cleared her throat. "Just to be clear, we're talking about a fictional movie. It never happened."

"That still doesn't mean that Aimee didn't say something pretty messed up."

"Zip it before I do decide to waste my morning coffee on you."

"That reminds me," I turned to Crazy, just for her to cut me off.

"No, I am not telling you any details about our contract. It's confidential info between me and her."

Clarence's head perked up at this. "What do you mean by a contract?"

Crazy shrugged, "Basically, Aimee sticks with us, I help her with some stuff on her world."

"Isn't that illegal?" I asked.

"Pssh," Aimee scoffed. "Nothing's illegal as long as the cops aren't around. Or if you're fast enough."

"Why do I feel like you mean more than speeding through a red light?" I muttered before explaining. "Well, if you bring stuff from other worlds to Aimee's world, doesn't that upset the natural balance or something? Like, if I took an atomic bomb to Clarence's world."

"Nathaniel," Crazy said, locking eyes with me. "I assure you, the natural order of things is already severely messed up and has been for a good long while. So don't think about it, and eat your bagel."

I huffed, taking a bite out said bagel. I bit into air instead, as my bagel had vanished.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself." A voice came from the corner of the room. Undeniably, the voice belonged to Joker but he had changed his clothes. Instead of a mask, he wore glasses and a school uniform consisting of a black jacket and tan pants in place of his trenchcoat. He loosely held my bagel in one hand, and in the other Aimee's mug of coffee.

"Give me back my coffee before I shoot you." Aimee growled.

As Joker returned the coffee and my bagel, I took a good long stare at the bagel. Turning my attention to Joker, I only had one question to ask. "Are you magic?"

"No, I'm a phantom thief." He smirked and gave a bow. "Codename's Joker."

"A thief, huh? And what is it that you steal?" Clarence asked, narrowing his eyes.

"The corrupt desires of the masses," Joker answered with a shrug.

"How about we all pretend we know what you mean by that for now so we can get to other business," Crazy said. "Once we finish breakfast, we'll be heading south to awaken Sheik and Marth. Then, we'll continue west, pass through Mushroom Gorge, enter the facility where Galeem's second guardian is and kill it. Any questions?"

"Why did you say 'second guardian'?"

"Is it necessary to go west?"

"Why do we have to rescue a bunch of people?"

"There's a Mushroom Gorge?"

Piranha Plant chomped in the air a couple of times.

"Joker, we already took out the first guardian so we don't need to worry about that. Clarence, we can't go east because there's a giant wall of light blocking the way so we just have to keep going until we find some way to take down the wall. Aimee, we have to rescue the Smashers because we don't know if there are any repercussions to getting vaporized and being stuck in a statue. Nathaniel, yes, there's a Mushroom Gorge. Thank you for being a voice of reason Piranha Plant." Crazy drew out a sigh that lasted until I finished my bagel. "Why do I have to be the answer part of Q&A all the time?"

"That's because you're Ms. Exposition," I said. "I mean, look at that giant paragraph you just said."

"Just ignore him when he says something such as that," Clarence answered a questioning look from Aimee.

"Was that really necessary?" I pointed Joker. "Look at him! He took it in stride!"

"That's more because I'm friends with a talking cat that can turn into a car, regularly journey into a world made of the perception of the masses and craft bombs in my classroom for a school year without the guy behind me telling the teacher despite being on probation." He finished with a shrug. "I can handle an odd comment or two."

"Speaking of odd, that reminds me," Crazy chipped in. "Yesterday, Piranha Plant dragged you in here and said something about getting into a fight with you."

"Yeah, he was scary."

"Scary?" Crazy raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Glowing eyes, dark ominous aura, um, what else Clarence?" I asked, turning to the knight.

"The way Joker behaved yesterday reminded me somewhat of a Puppet Fighter," Clarence said.

"Yeah, that. Especially the demon eyes."

Putting a hand to his chin, Joker answered. "The last thing I remember before waking up here, was the forest. It was a bit after Nathaniel got away."

"Oh yeah, screw you guys for tying me to a tree."

Ignoring me, Joker continued. "I was on guard duty while Aimee slept. I heard something so I went to check it out."

"Meh, I just thought you ditched me."

"Then, well." Trailing off, Joker held a hand to his forehead. "I don't remember anything after that."

"That's it?" Crazy asked. "That's a rather lackluster story. But it may be possible that whatever happened may have also affected Joker's memories."

"Hey, Oblivion, is that possible?"

" _That's certainly a possibility. With biodiversity in the multiverse, unseen side effects could always happen."_

I shrugged, "At least this means that I'm not the only one with memory problems."

"Unlike yours, Joker's memory problem may be extremely significant," Aimee said. "What happened to Joker could mean that there's a third party in this world."

"If there is," Crazy said, putting a hand to her chin. "They may pose a significant problem since we don't know what they want."

Piranha Plant bit into the air, then gnashed it's teeth.

"The plant is correct." Clarence sipped his tea. "We waste energy thinking about a potential third party since their identity and goals are unknown."

"So, I still can't tell them?" I asked Oblivion.

" _No."_

"Well." I rose, stretching my arms. "No point in staying here and talking. Let's get a move on."

"Wait!" Doc came out from the doorway, dragging something behind him. "Before you guys leave, I wanted to give you guys a good luck present."

Plopping it down, the good luck present turned out to be a Sandbag. "Just a way for you guys to keep your skills sharp while you're on the road."

"Why does it have eyes?" Aimee asked, leaning away from the item.

"Oh, it has eyes because it can see into your soul," I said, walking over to the Sandbag.

"What."

"You heard me." I grabbed the Sandbag and pulled it over to where Aimee sat, turning it so it looked at her.

"These eyes see into your soul. They see every sin you committed. Every crime you have ever performed. They know what awaits you once you have passed from this world. No lie, no misdeed, shall go unnoticed. Everything is laid bare before these eyes." I tilted the Sandbag into Aimee's personal space. In response, she leaned further back, only staying on the chair by holding it. "And from these eyes, there is no escape."

Aimee narrowed her eyes. Grabbing her mug, she threw the contents into my face.

"AAAAHHHH!" I threw myself to the ground, rolling as I clutched my face. "IT'SSSsss actually lukewarm."

"That's because you're not worth fresh coffee."

"I think getting stabbed would hurt less." A towel hit me in the head.

"Dry off with that so we can get going," Crazy said.

I did so and we began heading towards the door. After a few steps, I stopped, turning to Doc. "Hey, Doc?"

"Yeah? What is it?" Doc had turned his gaze to the pictures on the wall, of Little Mac and him celebrating their victories.

"Thanks for putting up with us. And don't worry," I gave him a light hit to the shoulder, "we're gonna get everything back to normal. Then you can see Mac again."

A small smile grew on Doc Louis's face. "Thanks for the reassurance kid."

 **Item Obtained:  
** **Sandbag**

 **Joker joined your party!**

* * *

"If I remember correctly, the two of you said that there was nothing left to do in the city," Crazy said.

"Yeah."

"So, what's right in front of us?"

"A Smasher Statue." Taking the south road out of Console City, we came across another Smasher Statue. To be more precise:

 **Smasher No. 47  
** **Wii Fit Trainer**

"In my defense, the author forgot about a couple of Smashers. Like Yoshi." I said. Stretching my arm, I pulled out the Fire Bar. "Time to beat up a fitness trainer again."

"Wait, Nathaniel." Crazy held me back, grabbing my hood.

"But why?"

"How many times have you fought Wii Fit Trainer? Why don't you let someone else take care of this?"

"Fine."

"Joker, you feel like showing off your skills?" Crazy asked the thief. "This is a good time for the rest of us to see what you're made of."

He pushed up glasses, giving a smirk. "I suppose I can."

Blue flames flared up around his glasses, consuming them and leaving behind his mask. The rest of his clothes followed suit as he advanced to the statue. Once the flames died down, he was left in his black thief's clothes.

"Hot," Crazy commented.

Slapping the nameplate on the statue, Joker climbed to the top of the statue within several bounds, using the statue to leap into the air.

Several seconds later, the statue crumbled, leaving Wii Fit Trainer in the open.

Orienting himself in the air, Joker began firing downward, raining bullets down on Wii Fit.

" _Why'd you let Joker fight Wii Fit? What about your memories?"_

"Hush, I'm watching the fight."

" _Are you serious right now!"_

I blinked a couple of times, the realization setting in. I groaned, "Right, I forgot."

"What'd you forget Nathaniel?" Crazy asked, her eyes still locked on Joker's graceful form as he dodged a strike from Wii Fit.

"His brains, obviously," Aimee said.

"And you clearly forgot how to be polite." I snapped back.

She shrugged at my words. "Can't forget something that I've never been."

I ignored her as I turned back to Oblivion. "It doesn't matter now since the fight already started anyway."

" _Sure, but it bugs me how you didn't even put up much of a fight!"_

"Well excuse me for forgetting!"

"Persona!" Joker shouted. His mask burned off and the red demon appeared behind him. Joker grabbed Wii Fit, slamming her and she bounced off the ground. Moving in sync, Joker and the demon leapt, slashing down to send Wii Fit crashing into the ground again.

Wii Fit Trainer only had enough time to get back up as Joker landed on her, firing away.

The fight ended, and Joker tossed Wii Fit Trainer's amiibo to me. "Yay, one more down."

"Joker," Clarence said. "What was that thing fighting with you?"

"Oh, that was my Persona, Arsene."

"Really?" I interjected. "I thought they were called Stands."

"Nathaniel, stop." Aimee pressed her hand to the bridge of her nose. "For the love of whatever god you have, stop talking."

I looked at the amiibo in my head. Then at Aimee's head. Such an easy target. Just use the amiibo as a distraction and then wail on her. I could take her. C'mon Nathaniel, fight her. Just punch her in the face.

Nah, too much effort.

"What exactly is a Persona?" Clarence asked Joker.

"Personas are the embodiment of a person's psyche," Joker said. "They're who the person really is beneath the mask they put on in the face of society."

"A person's psyche?" I asked as we began to continue on the path out of town. "That sounds pretty cool."

"The problem is," Joker said. "I thought that I couldn't use my Persona anymore."

"Oh right!" Aimee said, backpedaling so she face Joker. "Something about the Metaverse?"

"Yeah," Joker nodded. "I could only use Personas while in the Metaverse, a world made of humanity's subconscious desires. But, the Metaverse should have disappeared."

"I knew I was forgetting something." Crazy turned around, backpedaling as well. "Since we can't just have an ordinary high school student fight space dragons and swordsmen, we also modified the letter to give Joker some of his Persona abilities back."

We kept making small talk as we headed down the path, reaching the same pavilion with pillars scattered around. There was a problem since a Smasher Statue blocked us from entering the center of the area.

 **Smasher No. 21  
** **Marth**

"I call dibs!" I lunged towards the statue, only for Crazy to cut me off.

"Wait a moment Nathaniel." Crazy grabbed my hood, choking me a bit as I was forced to stop. Turning to Aimee, Crazy asked, "Do you want to take this one and show off?"

"Why does she get to fight?" I whined.

"Because we haven't seen everything she can do."

Stepping up, Aimee tapped a watch on her right wrist. Within seconds, it had expanded into her arm cannon, "Look on the bright side," she said, glancing towards me. "You get to see what else I can do."

Pressing the nameplate, Aimee walked back, keeping her eyes on the statue as a swordsman emerged.

Marth had blue hair, adorned with a gold tiara. He wore a blue tunic and cape, carrying a thin sword in his right hand. I didn't get a better look as Aimee knocked him away with a missile.

Tumbling away, Marth twisted, landing on his feet and dashed towards Aimee. She fired two more missiles which Marth twisted out of the way.

"Marth is light on his toes," Clarence commented.

"He's the prince of Altea. The sword he wields, the Falchion, is made from a fang of the dragon goddess Naga," Crazy explained. "He focuses the strength of his swings towards the tip of his blade so he's a meticulous type of swordsman."

"You have a prince fighting for you?" Joker asked, watching as Aimee tried to get some distance from Marth, only for the swordsman to keep closing the distance each time.

"We have a lot of people," Crazy answered. "Also, technically they don't for us, they fight each other."

Aimee sidestepped a swing, then aimed her cannon and fired a flash of green energy to knock Marth back.

Firing a missile to push Marth back further, Aimee began charging a green ball of energy at the tip of her cannon, which began growing in size. Marth dashed back towards her, making her stop charging to dodge.

" _Why did you give up so easily about fighting Marth?"_ Oblivion asked.

"I was in Crazy's choking range," I muttered, keeping my eyes on Aimee as she shot at the ground, using the recoil to launch herself into the air to dodge a stab.

Landing behind Marth, she put the tip of her cannon to the ground, letting a ball pop out. She jumped away as the ball exploded, launching Marth into the air.

Twisting her body and aiming, a giant ball of green energy launched from Aimee's cannon. Shooting through the air, the energy shot collided with Marth, breaking the swordsman apart into smoke.

"No sweat," Aimee said, landing on the ground.

I picked up Marth's amiibo from the ground, staring at it. No memories.

Would the memory from defeating Marth ever come back? Is it gone forever? Why would freeing the Smashers return my memories? Is there even any point in recovering my memories if I can't go home? Do I even have a home to go back to?

"Nathaniel!" Joker's voice broke me from my thoughts. I turned to look, seeing that everyone else was already at the next Smash Statue.

No use for pointless questions I guess.

" _Stop whining and get a move on,"_ Oblivion said.

 **Smasher No. 16:  
** **Sheik**

"Next time, you start spacing, I'm going to hit you," Aimee said. Ignoring her, I held an open hand out to Joker.

"My scythe," I said.

"What?"

"Give me my scythe, I'm taking this one."

Crazy jumped in, "I was actually thinking of letting Piranha Plant take this one. He hasn't had much to do recently."

I glared at Crazy, "No. I'm in the mood for destroying something. So I'll **take this one.** "

She matched my glare. A few seconds she huffed and threw her hands into the air, "Fine. If you insist."

Joker passed me Death's Scythe as I activated the statue. The standard affair of the statue collapsing and the wall of energy being set up occurred as what emerged from the statue looked like a ninja, in dark purple tights that had a red eye symbol on the as well as bandages wrapped around their head. I couldn't tell whether Sheik was a guy or a girl.

I stood still as Sheik dashed towards me, shooting in a straight line. I took a simple swing with the scythe as soon as Sheik was in range.

Before the blade connected, Sheik flipped over me, landing a kick on the back of my head. I stumbled forward, slipping out the Steel Diver.

Twisting, I fired a torpedo at Sheik which the ninja hopped over as she made another dash at me. I decided to just throw the Steel Diver at them, watching as the item bounced off of the ninja's forehead and hitting the ground.

Stumbling from the hit, Sheik resumed their dash as I threw Death's Scythe this time. Sidestepping, Sheik grabbed the scythe as it passed through the air, just in time for me to land a hit with the Fire Bar. The hit knocked Sheik back, dropping the scythe in the process.

As Sheik got back to their feet, I tossed the Fire Bar and leapt into a roll to pick up Death's Scythe. Ending the roll on a knee, I caught the Fire Bar as it bounced off Sheik's head. Jumping forward, I threw the Fire Bar again and swung with the scythe, planting the blade in the ground and leaving the handle parallel to the ground.

Sheik caught the Fire Bar as I jumped off the scythe, copying Joker as I pulled out the Steel Diver, raining torpedoes down on Sheik. The explosions pushed Sheik towards the scythe that was still planted in the ground. A toss of the Steel Diver knocked Sheik over it.

I walked slowly, grabbing Death's Scythe as I approached Sheik, who was now glowing with a rainbow aura. As I flourished the scythe, the sky grew dark and the moon rose in the sky.

Sheik brandished a knife before shooting forward, as the eye on Sheik's chest flashed. Everything became saturated, with the colors of everything becoming dull. Everything except for Sheik's knife, which seemed to grow brighter and brighter as they approached.

I sidestepped, letting Sheik zoom past me.

"My turn," I said as my own rainbow aura flared up around me. " _Doomed Defense Super Saw."_

Lifting the scythe over my head, I threw with both arms, aiming for just above Sheik's head. The scythe spun, becoming a deadly wheel of purple energy as it cut through the air, just in time for Sheik to jump and get caught in the attack. The wheel cut through Sheik but it wasn't enough to end the fight.

Sheik ran forward, aiming to strike me as the wheel made a U-turn, curving back towards me like a boomerang. It struck Sheik's back, pulling them towards me as I grabbed my scythe. The blade was positioned perfectly around Sheik's neck.

I pulled the scythe, ending the fight as the blade cut through.

"One down, who knows how many left to go." A sigh slipped out of my lips as I picked up Sheik's amiibo.

"SO, you done destroying stuff?" Crazy said.

"Yeah, sorry about how I said it."

She shrugged as I inspected Sheik's amiibo more closely.

* * *

 _A black rectangle with gold details sat in my hands. I saved up my allowance for months, sold my old games and traded in my old DS. What sat in my hands was the next generation of portable gaming._

" _If you're just going to stare at it, then could I play it?" My sister asked._

" _You're just going to play Nintendogs! At least let me play some Legend of Zelda first!"_

 _Sadly enough, I also sold some games that my siblings didn't play anymore so I had to share custody of my 3DS: Legend of Zelda edition with my siblings._

" _Then stop staring at it and play!"_

 _Since it was a special edition, it also came with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, a game I have not played but was excited to do so._

" _It has gold on it! Can't I just look at it for a while?"_

" _You've been looking at it for 5 minutes!"_

" _Nuh-uh!"_

" _Yuh-uh!"_

 _Our arguing quickly devolved into more bickering that lasted until our mom called out from the next room, "Quit arguing! Am I going to have to ground you two!"_

" _No Mom!" We answered in unison._

 _Acting quickly, since we didn't know when Mom would just decide to confiscate the 3DS to avoid future bickering, I booted it up and started playing the game._

* * *

Another sigh.

After all the memories I had gotten so far, I still don't remember any of my siblings' names. Not just them. Surely, I had at least one childhood friend, why don't I have any memories about them? Would I have remembered them in one of the other Smashers that someone else awakened?

"Come to think of it, we could go north as well," Crazy said, checking out the path that just opened up.

"Or, we could just stick to our original plan," Aimee said. "Go east to fight the guardian before moving north."

"But there could be Spirits and maybe more Smashers there to rescue," Clarence said.

"Or, there could not be and we would have wasted our time if we took the path north," Joker pointed out.

Piranha Plant snapped his teeth.

"Let's just go," I muttered.

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Crazy, Clarence, Piranha Plant, Aimee, Joker**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Steel Diver, Fire Flower, Beehive, Fire Bar, Death's Scythe**

 **Crazy Hand- Staff, Deku Nuts, Green Shell, Bob-omb, Bombchu x3, Smart Bomb**

 **Clarence-Special Flag**

 **Piranha Plant- None**

 **Aimee- Sandbag**

 **Joker-None**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Peach, Bowser, Sheik, Dr. Mario, Pichu, Marth, Lucario, Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Inkling**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **Clarence: Why is there a cake with a giant candle on it?**

 **Aimee: Pretty sure that's a fire hazard. Like, a really big one.**

 **Nathaniel: Crazy?**

 **Crazy: Not me for once.**

 **MG: That's actually my doing. Why? Because this chapter marks SWOL's one-year anniversary! It's really weird to think that a year has passed for me working on this. And also kinda sad since I'm nowhere near finishing this. Anyway-**

 **Clarence: STOP MONOLOGUING AND GET WATER! THE CANDLE SET THE STAGE ON FIRE!**

 ***The cake had toppled over, letting the candle set fire to a side curtain and a rug. Both of which caused the fire to start spreading across the stage and onto the roof.***

 **MG: Meh, see you guys next time for Chapter 29 and more of SWOL in the future!**


	29. SWOL Update

Hey everyone!

MaskedGamer here. I have no idea why I did that but I couldn't think of a better intro to this or how to really talk about the topic.

That topic being Saving the World of Light in general, updates, what I have been doing and so on and so forth.

Let's start with updates.

The last time I updated this was on SWOL's first year anniversary, November 26, 2019 (kinda sad cuz of that). Since then, it has largely been dead silence from me. The first main reason for that I started my first year of college. The college I'm attending is out-of-state so it's been a really big shift for me. I have classes to attend and papers to write and friends to try and make and alienate with my social awkwardness and just trying to find a new normal for my life. I didn't have enough free time or energy to write.

The second main reason is a lack of motivation. I'm pretty burnt out on Smash Bros. Maybe it's because I joined the Gaming Club at my college and all I've been doing there is playing Smash Bros. Maybe it's because I haven't been playing as much video games as I used to. I don't know. Before this major hiatus, I was already having problems with regular uploads so maybe college was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Maybe looking at the progress that I have made so far, I realized how big of a task this would be and mentally intimated myself out of it.

The third main reason is that I don't really use this site anymore. I made this account in 2014. Compared to a lot of people on the internet, this account is pretty young. So was I when I made it. I made this account 6 years ago which sometimes feels like an entire lifetime ago. Compared to now, I am an entirely different person, with different hobbies and interests. I haven't actively used this site in so long which started even before I started writing SWOL.

As for SWOL in general, I would love to finish it. I have plans for the ending and general plot but not a lot of skill to fill that. This is my first fanfiction, which I mainly started on a whim so I don't really have a lot of experience with writing. Like I said earlier, the end result of a fic like this would be a lot, and when I focused on that, it seemed like this was a major mistake because of my amateur writing skills. Would I accidentally portray anyone as OOC? Is there enough focus on the plot? Am I creating enough information that doesn't give the major twists away but still hints at the twist in a satisfying way? Am I making my characters make ridiculous decisions without a solid motivation as to why?

Admittedly, part of me just wants to delete and forget about SWOL. 28 chapters? That's good enough so move on. If I really wanted to keep writing then I could just rewrite it so I don't railroad my sideplots into a mountain cave filled with lit dynamite. I actually have a solid answer for this in that if I were to delete and/or rewrite SWOL, it would probably be after the third year anniversary.

I think a lot of my hangups when writing this is a focus on the wrong details but I'm not entirely sure. Like I said, I would love to finish this. It would be amazing to share something with the community for the first time and to see what it's like on the other side of the story.

I'm not posting this with the promise of another chapter soon. I'm not posting this to say officially that SWOL is dead forever and you should forget about it. I'm posting this because I feel like I owe all of you some answers.

All I can say right now is that I'm sorry.


	30. Chapter 29: Worries and Relaxation

**Author's Note: This was actually planned to go up a couple of days sooner but I got sidetracked with some assignments for college. As for if this means if I will be regularly writing for SWOL again, I'm not sure. I'm tempted to say that I'm going to start uploading chapters regularly again but I really don't want to make any promises. If this chapter seems weird compared to the others, I'm sorry. I'm still getting into writing headspace for this again.**

 **On a better note, SWOL has gotten to almost 50 followers and over 40 favorites in the time that I've been gone. Shout-out to Thankfulclock50, CrescentApple, Zythus Lin, epicpeachtime, justinq719, fanfictor2000, JutsuMaster250, nevermind the fallability, crossover15, , Sethelephant and Nochu1997 for reading SWOL! If you didn't want to be mentioned, then just send me a PM.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Guest: I'm still pretty disappointed in myself that the last chapter I wrote was the 1st year anniversary for this but I'm pretty sure that since SWOL has hit a 1 year anniversary, it hopefully won't die soon.**

 **epicpeachtime: I tried to delay Nathaniel telling the others about the memory thing because I wanted to try as much drama as I could but in hindsight, it was a pretty ridiculous idea. Also, thanks for pointing the problem with the list, I keep forgetting to edit so I occasionally miss stuff like that.**

 **Kinda Worried: WELL GUESS WHO'S HERE NOW AND WITH A BRAND NEW CHAPTER! TAKE IT AWAY CHAPTER TITLE!**

* * *

 **Chapter 29: Worries and Relaxation**

"What do you think would happen if I ate one?"

"What are you talking about?"

"One of the amiibos, what do you think would happen if I ate one?" I asked, staring into the sky. We hadn't realized that night had fallen so we decided to set up camp. Currently, I am amusing myself by looking at the stars. Something in the back of my mind told me that I didn't really take much time to do so back home so it was nice to do so now.

Then, a green sphere of energy blasted itself into my side.

"Ow! What was that for?" I screamed at Aimee. She just blew the non-existent smoke off of her hand cannon before crossing her arms.

"That was for slacking off when we're practicing against each other and for asking stupid questions," she answered bluntly. Oh yeah, we were.

I pulled out the Steel Diver and fired before charging after it. Swapping weapons to Death's Scythe, I leapt into the air, bringing the scythe blade down onto her.

Aimee was quick to counter. Putting the tip of the cannon to the ground, a small, metal ball popped out rolling towards the torpedo. The ball exploded as the torpedo flew above it, destroying both. At the same time, the gunner sidestepped my aerial assault, letting me stab into the ground instead.

Grunting as I tried to pull the blade out so I could swing again, I slowly realized that the scythe was stuck in the ground.

I muttered, "Oh no," as my head slowly turned to see Aimee charging up another shot.

Light bulb! Idea! Smart thing to do!

I reached into my inventory, pulled the Fire Bar, and climbed onto the handle of the scythe. Using that as a platform, I leapt into the air, plunging the Fire Bar down onto Aimee.

Or at least, I would have.

As I stood on the scythe, tensing my body to leap, the blade in the ground slipped loose. Death's Scythe fell to the ground, me included. On the bright side, Aimee let loose a shot, aiming for where I would have been if I jumped.

Landing on my back, I threw the Fire Bar at Aimee as I kicked the Scythe towards my other hand. Hopping to my feet, I ran at her, brandishing the Scythe.

Aimee caught the Fire Bar in her free hand and tossed it back at me. I knocked the item away with the end of the Scythe before stopping as Aimee shoved the end of her Hand Cannon into my face, creating a small explosion to blast me away.

Getting pushed back, I landed on my knee, coughing a bit from the blow. As I moved to my feet, Aimee pointed her cannon in my face again, "Give up. You're clearly not in top shape right now."

I felt a scowl creep across my face, "Say that again, I dare you."

She shrugged, "Sure. You should just gi-" She paused to smash my hand with another explosion as I tried to swing with the scythe. My hand recoiled as the scythe was sent flying out of my grip. Aimee put her boot against my chest and pushed me back to the ground, "Give up."

"Fine, I give up."

Aimee removed her foot and walked over to the campfire as I went to grab my dropped items. As I moved to walk back to camp, Crazy Hand caught my eye. She was looking at the Switch and was tapping away at the screen.

Walking up to her, I tapped her on the shoulder, "Crazy, do you mind if I could talk to you in private?"

Turning away from the screen with a sigh, she gave me a cold look. "Sure, why not? As long you aren't in the mood for destroying stuff."

I could only look at my feet in shame as we walked towards the pillars that rimmed the pavilion we were in. "I just wanted to apologize again for my earlier behavior. I understand that simply saying sorry doesn't mean it's okay and that it has to reflect my future actions and that-"

Crazy cut me off with a wave, "Nathaniel, it's late. Please get to the point so all of us can go to sleep."

"That was the point."

"Really?" She glared daggers at me. "You wanted to talk to me in private for this?"

"No," I admitted. "I kinda wanted to talk about the reason why I was acting like a douche earlier. Um, I'm missing some memories that I should have."

"You're an amnesiac. That's nothing new."

"Yeah, except I'm talking about the memories that I'm supposed to get from amiibos." Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out Kirby's amiibo. "When I'm the one who gets the amiibo, I remember something from before but when I got Bowser," I pulled out his amiibo, "I don't get any memories back. Clarence is the one who beat Bowser. The same happened with Marth, with Wii Fit Trainer, with Little Mac, with Jigglypuff, with Dr. Mario."

"So? Didn't you make recovering your memories a secondary goal to joining the tournament?" Crazy raised an eyebrow. "You made it seem like you didn't care that much when I asked before."

"That was before I actually started recovering my memories." I sat on a broken pillar, staring at my feet. How had my shoes never gotten untied so far in this adventure? "What I've been remembering so far has been random. Pointless scenes that barely have any connection to each other. My dreams have more continuity than my memories for god's sake!"

I drew out a sigh, trying to regulate my breathing, "I can't even remember the names of my siblings. Whenever their name comes up, it's always static. I can barely remember what they look like even now. They're the people that I've spent my whole life with. That's not even to mention anyone else important in my life. What's the point in saving the world if I don't even remember the people that I care about? But at the same time, if I insist on awakening all the Smashers, then that's going to impede our progress too much, especially if we split up. But what if we just go through the rest of this like this? What if I never get my memories back and I have to return to my world? I don't even know my own address. Whatam I going todo then? Whywas, why did I ever lose mymemories to beginwith? You saidthatit wasn't your brother sowhatwasitthen? AmIdead and, and allthisisjustahallucination as I'm dying on a hospitalbed? WhendoI wakeup then? WhathappenswhenIwakeup?"

"Nathaniel."

"What?"

"Don't you dare eat an amiibo to see if you can recover your memories that way."

All I could answer that with, was just a slow stare at Crazy, who shrugged in response. "Sorry, just kinda wanted to make sure that you wouldn't actually eat one."

Crazy leaned back on a pillar, "Nathaniel, I don't know why you lost your memories or why you're here. I don't have the answers, all we can hope for is that we find someone who does have the answers. You not recovering any memories from Smashers that other people awaken is strange. I do wish that you told me earlier so that we could work on a solution faster but I suppose telling me now is fine. I do have to ask, what kept you from telling me earlier?"

I paused. Why did I try to hide it? Pride? "I don't know. Maybe I didn't want to bother you guys with my problems."

Crazy sighed, "At least you haven't killed anyone over it. How do you want to deal with the problem? From how I see it, we have you awaken all the Smashers, that'll take longer but it's a surefire way to get all your memories back, or we could just do with how we've been dealing with the issue so far. Then we could see if my brother could restore your memories."

" _Do the second option, Master Hand is definitely strong enough to restore your memories," Oblivion whispered in my mind._

I bit my lip. "Are you sure Master Hand can restore my memories?"

"I'll tell the truth," Crazy said. "I really want to say yes. There's no reason not to, even with my assistance, he is definitely powerful to do so. The only reason I say maybe is that I have something telling me that there is something wrong with your memories."

"Yeah, it's called having amnesia."

Crazy rolled her eyes, "You know what I meant. Something's fishy about it. But even so, all we can do is hope. Final answer?"

I sighed, "Sure, I guess I'm gonna hope that Master Hand can fix my memories."

"Glad we got that sorted," Crazy said. She looked up at the night sky before speaking again, "It's getting pretty late, you should probably get some rest soon."

"In a bit, I kinda wanted to stargaze a bit."

"Just don't wander off." With that, Crazy walked back to camp, leaving me alone to my thoughts and the stars.

" _Let me guess, you wanted private time to talk to me."_

And Oblivion.

"Yeah, why do you trust Master Hand to restore my memories? Crazy, I understand but even she had doubts about it."

" _Nathaniel, I've seen Master Hand reduce entire worlds to nothing more than stardust. He has taken suns and collapsed into the size of pennies. He has built kingdoms within a month. He created a black hole and teleported into the stomach of a titan to kill it. He literally dropped a mountain. He, I was going somewhere with this, I don't remember what though."_

"Master Hand? Amnesia? Something upon a mountain?"

" _Oh yeah. Point is, even if I'm exaggerating, Master Hand is more than enough to restore your memories. Crazy even said so herself."_

"I guess. Another question: You said before that I'm here because of a promise you made. Mind elaborating on that?"

" _Hmm, nope!"_

"Why though?"

" _I don't remember the details of it!"_ the voice exclaimed. " _It's kinda like you and your siblings. You remember that you have siblings, their general relation to you. You liked your sister more than your brother, your sister was an egghead and your brother was somehow a nerd and a jock at the same time. I remember that I made a promise, I have a vague idea of what it was about, and that vague idea is that it dragged you into this mess."_

"Oblivion?"

" _Yeah?"_

"Any other promise I should know about?"

" _Nope!"_

Another sigh slipped out from my mouth, one that I dragged on for as long as my lungs would allow. Taking one last look at the sky above me, I walked back to camp and collapsed on my blanket.

* * *

 _Markus was dressed as usual, black cloak and featureless. He did have something new in the form of a fishing pole. Was he doing the expected activity of fishing that is normally associated with the new object?_

 _Since I'm asking that question, of course not. He was beating a Primid over the head with it._

" _GO. DOWN. ALREADY. YOU. ANNOYING. BANANA," he grunted with every hit. Eventually, the Primid scattered into dark spores._

 _Glancing around, Markus was standing at a grass-covered cliffside that overlooked an ocean that stretched to the horizon. Behind us was a path that snaked through a green forest. Surrounding us, however, was a sea of the dark spores. Also, a bucket that was next to Markus._

 _The spores began to coalesce, gathering in front of us, slowly building legs, then a torso and arms. Within a few moments, a humanoid figure stood, although featureless._

"s _tRo_ N _g." A voice, creaky like an old house, came from the figure. The only movement made was the constant shifting of the spores as they swarmed to form the figure, shifting constantly within the frame._

" _Nah, the mooks you sent are just really weak," Markus said, his tone like he was talking to a neighbor that he prefers to avoid so he doesn't have to talk to them. "Tabuu, I presume?"_

" _C_ oR _rec_ T _. veSS_ eL. _l_ i _m_ IT _eD."_

" _Oh, so you don't actually talk like that? That's good to know. Quick question actually," Markus kicked the bucket by his feet lightly, "Do you know what kind of bait fish around here like? I was supposed to get fish but I forgot to grab bait and it would be really awkward if I went back to grab it so I was wondering if I had anything on me that could be used as a substitute"_

" _J_ O _i_ n? U _s?" The figure asked._

" _Oh, oh. I'm sorry but krrsh, krrsh, the connection's breaking up. Krrsh,krrsh. Oh, oh! I'm losing your signal!" With that, Markus withdrew his Beam Sword and threw it like a spear, piercing through the figure's torso. Upon impact, the spores fell apart, scattering into a pile. Within moments, the spores faded into nothing._

" _You'd think that if Tabuu really wanted to recruit me, he would learn a better sales pitch." Markus's head gave a little twitch and he walked over to pick the Beam Sword up. Grabbing the handle, something caught his eye as he turned his attention to it instead._

 _Moving closer behind him, I peeked over Markus's shoulder to see that it was one of the dark spores. Glancing around, all the other spores that littered the ground had already faded away. Markus reached into his cloak and pulled out a jar, which he scooped the spore into._

 _Capping it with a cork, Markus cocked his head to the side as he stared at it. Then, something began beeping in a rhythmic tone._

 _Tucking the jar away, Markus pulled out a flip phone and answered, "He-hewwo?"_

" _Please don't do that ever again," Master Hand's voice came out, as dry as sand. "Screw the jokes, we need you at camp now."_

" _What? Why?"_

" _We're under attack! Hurry up already!" The connection cut off afterwards._

 _All Markus did was sigh, "Markus, go get firewood. Markus, go set up the tents. Markus, go get fish. Markus, go oh wait, they're under attack I should most definitely hurry."_

 _With that, the cloaked figure dashed into the woods, quickly being lost among the shadows._

* * *

"Tea is the superior drink."

"Nooooo. Coffee is!"

"Tea."

"Coffee!"

"Tea."

" _Cah-feh!_ "

"Some of us are trying to sleep for all that is good and fried!" I shouted, being roused from my sleep by the sounds of arguing. Clarence and Aimee, each with a cup of their respective beverage, just stared at me.

"With all due respect, Nathaniel, you're the last one to have awoken," Clarence said.

I glanced around to see that, yes indeed, I am the last one to have woken up. Crazy and Piranha Plant were huddled together, looking at Crazy's Switch then writing something down. Joker was fiddling with a coffee pot that was suspended over the dying campfire and Clarence and Aimee were sitting across from me.

"Nat, tea or coffee!" Aimee practically shouted at me.

"Why are you asking," I started before stopping for a moment to process what she had just said. "Wait, why are you calling me Nat?"

"Because it's short for your name. And because you're like one of the little annoying bugs, y'know gnats?" Aimee held up a hand and began moving it erratically in front of her, making buzzing noises. I also noticed that her left eye was also twitching quite a bit.

Clarence sighed, "We are arguing over which is better, tea or coffee."

"Yeah, I kinda got that from the shouting."

Ignoring me, Clarence just waved his cup around the camp, "Currently, we are at a standstill. Aimee and Joker prefer coffee. Piranha Plant and I prefer tea. Crazy Hand said she doesn't care what she drinks as long as she gets her caffeine. How about you?"

I just shrugged as I began to fold my blanket, "I don't think I drink either, I mean, I don't remember if I do have a preference and I haven't had a chance to try either since I got here."

Those were the very wrong words to say.

In an instant, the two were on me in an instant, shoving their drinks in my face. Instinctively, I leaned back to gain some space between myself and the two but I leaned too far, falling backwards. My right leg went up, hitting Aimee's hand and making her drop her cup.

She fumbled, failing to catch the cup but, succeeding in knocking in Clarence, making him drop his own cup as well.

Clarence and Aimee pulled each other back, managing to not fall on top of me. Their dropped cups, however, were a different story as the cups and their contents spilled onto my chest.

The coffee and tea spilled onto my chest and I felt the burning sensation as they scalded my flesh. Then my body tensed as I triggered my shield. The red bubble grew, bouncing the burning liquids into Clarence and Aimee's faces along with their cups.

"Hot! Hot!" Aimee cried out as she ran off, looking for something to cool the coffee with. Clarence just stood there, wiping the tea off his face with his bare hand.

"Don't throw coffee at me next time!" I shouted after Aimee while checking my shirt. Thankfully, it was dry. I turned to Clarence who was staring at me. "What?"

Before Clarence could speak, Crazy shouted, "Group meeting everyone! Gather around please!"

As we did so, Crazy pulled out the map again. "Okay, so there are two routes we can take currently. There's the path north which would lead to another town and the southeastern path. The southeastern one would take us through the Mushroom Gorge and towards the second guardian so here's what I was thinking. We split up, with the first group taking the north path, clearing out the town of Spirits, and then moving to catch up with the second group who should still be at the Mushroom Gorge since it's a much larger area. Any objections?"

I raised my hand, "Question: Why is splitting up always our go-to plan?"

"Because it's more efficient this way," Crazy said as she looked at me, giving me a couple of exaggerated winks.

Ignoring this, Joker asked, "So, who's on the A team and who's on the B team?"

"About that," Crazy began, "I was thinking that Aimee, Piranha Plant and I could go on the North path while the other team would be you three. What does everyone think?"

"I have no objections. I am rather interested to see how a thief fights," Clarence said, turning a side-eye to Joker who smirked.

"And I'm interested to see how well you do in my dust."

Piranha Plant chomped into the air four times.

Aimee rolled her eyes before turning her attention to the inside panel of her arm cannon.

I paused for a moment.

Then I shrugged, "No objections."

* * *

 **Crazy has left your party.**

 **Aimee has left your party.**

 **Piranha Plant has left your party.**

* * *

 **Save File 2: Saved**

 **Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Clarence, Joker**

 **Items: Nathaniel- Steel Diver, Fire Flower, Beehive, Fire Bar, Death's Scythe**

 **Clarence-Special Flag**

 **Joker-None**

 **Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Peach, Bowser, Sheik, Dr. Mario, Pichu, Marth, Lucario, Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Inkling**

* * *

 **Author's Theater:**

 **As you attempt to enter the Theater, the doors inside are locked with a sign posted on the door.**

 **"Due to immense property damage caused by a giant birthday cake, the Theater will be temporarily closed for the time being. We thank you for your patience and good faith in recent times."**


End file.
